When I Was Mortal

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Victims of mistaken identity, sponging relatives, amateur sleuths, eavesdroppers, professional liars, assassins, and failed bodyguards populate the short stories in When I Was Mortal. Plots turn on curious exigencies: a woman about to star in her first porn film; a night doctor who adds new meaning to “specialist”; a ghost whose neglect is greatly resented.

“Mariás is a startling talent. . . . His prose is ambitious, ironic, philosophical and ultimately compassionate, forgiving of the vulnerability that compels us to destroy.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A refreshing discovery . . . [these stories] should be welcomed here like a bracing tonic.” —Chicago Tribune
© Santi Burgos
JAVIER MARÍAS was born in Madrid in 1951. He has published fifteen novels, including The Infatuations and A Heart So White, as well as three collections of short stories and several volumes of essays. His work has been translated into forty-four languages, has sold nine million copies worldwide, and has won a dazzling array of international literary awards, including the prestigious International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Prix Femina Étranger. He died in 2022. View titles by Javier Marías

About

Victims of mistaken identity, sponging relatives, amateur sleuths, eavesdroppers, professional liars, assassins, and failed bodyguards populate the short stories in When I Was Mortal. Plots turn on curious exigencies: a woman about to star in her first porn film; a night doctor who adds new meaning to “specialist”; a ghost whose neglect is greatly resented.

“Mariás is a startling talent. . . . His prose is ambitious, ironic, philosophical and ultimately compassionate, forgiving of the vulnerability that compels us to destroy.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A refreshing discovery . . . [these stories] should be welcomed here like a bracing tonic.” —Chicago Tribune

Author

© Santi Burgos
JAVIER MARÍAS was born in Madrid in 1951. He has published fifteen novels, including The Infatuations and A Heart So White, as well as three collections of short stories and several volumes of essays. His work has been translated into forty-four languages, has sold nine million copies worldwide, and has won a dazzling array of international literary awards, including the prestigious International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Prix Femina Étranger. He died in 2022. View titles by Javier Marías