A Pretty Face

Rafael Reig

ISBN 10: 1852429224 / ISBN 13: 9781852429225

Published by Profile Books Ltd, 2007

About this Item

Narrated by the ghost of a murdered woman, A Pretty Face is set in the Madrid of Reig?s previous novel, Blood on the Saddle. It?s the recent past reinvented so that it seems like the future: the oil has run out; the Spanish Communist Party has been overthrown by a US Army invasion; Spain is now part of the USA and Anglo is the official language. The rich live in gated communities, the poor wherever they can, in fear of genetic engineers who are testing neuroprotein K666, which might conquer death itself. The late Lola Egu?bar, writer of children?s fiction and daughter of the retired discoverer of K666, uses her post-mortal invisibility to unravel the events preceding her killing. She has a sidekick too, the equally unreal Benito, a randy, one-eyed, teenage character from her series of successful kids? novels. A remarkable blend of crime, science fiction and satire, A Pretty Face is bursting with Rafael Reig?s inimitable power of imagination and sense of mischief.

Seller Inventory # 0010523

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Pretty Face
• Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1852429224
• ISBN 13: 9781852429225
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

"[Rafael] Reig delights in keeping his readers on their toes. For such a brief book — it can be read in one afternoon — it covers a lot of ground, and all of the elements come together at the end. Reig is playing around in A Pretty Face — and inviting his readers to play along."—NPR.org

“A wonderfully absurd little existential novel.”—The Independent on Sunday

“Rafael Reig’s manic inventiveness appears to know no bounds. . . . Enjoy the humour and intellectual breadth.”—The Times (London)

Children’s author Lola Eguibar is dead. With the help of her teenage character Benito, she sets out to investigate her own murder. Set in a surreal Spain that is part of the United States, where everyone speaks Anglo and the world has exhausted its supply of oil, this is a remarkable blend of crime, science fiction, and satire.

Rafael Reig was born in 1963. He lives in Madrid, where he combines university teaching with his writing activities.

About the Author

Born in Asturias in 1963, Rafael Reig studied Philosophy and Humanities in Madrid and later in New York, where he wrote his PhD thesis on 19th-century literary depictions of the prostitute. Today Reig combines university teaching with his writing and editing activities. Blood on the Saddle is the first of his novels to be translated into English.