Last Day of a Prior Life

‘A ghost story without ghosts that, beyond the beauty of its form, explores solitude, the twists and turns of our lives, and the unfathomable complexities of affection.’ Mariana Enriquez

While preparing an empty house for sale, a woman encounters an unblinking seven-year-old boy, trapped there from another era, like an insect preserved in amber. Unable to articulate what he needs, the child draws her into an unsettling bond that neither can escape … until they understand what has caused it.

With incredible precision, this deeply disquieting novel weaves together doppelgängers and time loops in the tradition of a classic ghost story. Yet its contemporary sensibility ― where lyricism meets cruelty ― evokes the dark horror of Shirley Jackson.

From one of the most renowned Spanish-language authors working today, Last Day of a Prior Life is a masterful dissection of human longing and the ties that bind us, even across time itself.

Andrés Barba was first known internationally as a Granta Best Young Spanish Novelist and as the author of Such Small Hands and Luminous Republic. He has been awarded the Torrente Ballester Prize, the Juan March Prize, the Anagrama Essay Prize, the Premio Herralde, and has been the finalist of the Premio Gregor von Rezzori XIII. He is one of the most renowned Spanish authors today.

Lisa Dillman is Professor of Practice in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Emory University. Her work has won multiple awards, including the Best Translated Book Award and the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize, and twice been finalist for a National Book Award. Lisa has translated thirty-some novels by Spanish and Latin American authors including Yuri Herrera, Sabina Berman, Alejandra Costamagna, Pilar Quintana, and Graciela Mochkofsky. Her most recent translation, Season of the Swamp, by Yuri Herrera, was a finalist for the LA Times Book Award and won the Queen Sofia Translation Award.