While the Women Are Sleeping

A dozen unforgettable stories by ?one of the most original writers at work today? (Wyatt Mason, The New York Times Book Review).

Slippery figures in anomalous situations ? ghosts, spies, bodyguards, criminals ? haunt these stories by Javier Marías: the characters come bearing their strange and special secrets, and never leave our minds. In one story, a man obsessed with his much younger lover endlessly videotapes her every move, and then confides his surprising plans for her; in another a ghost can?t stop resigning from his job. Masterfully, Marías manages in a small space to perplex and delight. ?The short story fits Marías like a glove,? as Le Point noted. His stories have been hailed as ?formidably intelligent? (The London Review of Books), ?a bracing tonic? (Chicago Tribune), and ?startling? (The New York Times Book Review).