Berta Isla

Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa

2020 Longlist

Berta Isla and Tomás Nevinson meet in Madrid. Young and in love, they quickly decide to spend their lives together – never suspecting that they will grow to be total strangers, both living under the shadow of disappearances.

Tom’s, half-Spanish and half-English, has an extraordinary gift for languages and accents. Leaving Berta to study at Oxford, he catches the interest of a certain government agency, and its mysterious agent, Bertram Tupra. Tom’s is determined to evade the agent’s attentions but his fate is sealed by an escalating series of events that will affect the rest of his life – and that of his beloved Berta. Finishing his time at Oxford, he returns to Madrid to marry her, already knowing that the life they planned has been lost forever.

About the Author

Javier Marías is the author and translator of numerous novels including Todas las almas and Tu rostro mañana for which he has received a large number of awards in Spain and abroad. In 2012 he received the National Narrative Literature Award, as well as the Formentor Award for all his work in 2013.

Librarian’s Comments

Berta Isla is a complex and layered novel. It offers an exploitative psychological story of the wedding of Berta Isla and her charming husband Tomás Nevinson, as well as an unexpected approach to a spy novel. Berta Isla and Tomás meet at school and become a couple. Tomás is Anglo-Spanish and has a special talent for languages. He gets recruited by MI6 during his studies at Oxford. He returns to Madrid as an embassy employee without Berta. Suspecting his double life, we get typical Marías ingredients: waiting, uncertainty, self-deception and not  knowing one another. The novel is written in a beautiful style using winding sentences. The atmospheric setting in time, the psychological observations and the meandering rhythm of the story enchanting. Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge, Belgium