PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Pereira is the editor of the cultural page for an evening Lisbon newspaper called the Lisboa. Disconnected from the world, he lives in quiet moments of reverie usually ending in Pereira updating a photo of his dead wife with his daily comings and goings. Civil War is raging in Spain and Portugal finds itself under a darkening cloud of repression. When he meets two young people Pereira is dragged into the present. Tabucchi was an Italian writer who lived in Portugal, he writes with such clarity and precision that the reader is immediately drawn into this world of corruption. It is in the middle of this political maelstrom that Pereira finally decides to make a defiant stand. Impressive and unforgettable. Greg
Antonio Tabucchi was born in Pisa, Italy in 1943. His critically acclaimed novels and short story collections include Little Misunderstandings of No Importance and Requiem- A Hallucination and Pereira Maintains, which won the Premio Viareggio and the Aristeion Prize. He died in Lisbon, his adopted home, in 2012.
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Pereira is the editor of the cultural page for an evening Lisbon newspaper called the Lisboa. Disconnected from the world, he lives in quiet moments of reverie usually ending in Pereira updating a photo of his dead wife with his daily comings and goings. Civil War is raging in Spain and Portugal finds itself under a darkening cloud of repression. When he meets two young people Pereira is dragged into the present. Tabucchi was an Italian writer who lived in Portugal, he writes with such clarity and precision that the reader is immediately drawn into this world of corruption. It is in the middle of this political maelstrom that Pereira finally decides to make a defiant stand. Impressive and unforgettable. Greg
A brilliant, profound book that also manages to be a thriller -- Roddy Doyle A stunningly good novel, and it goes on getting better in one's head after one has stopped reading it - it works as an experience - something that has happened to one, which is of course the proof of great writing -- Diana Athill Tabucchi's prose creates a deep, near-profound and sometimes heart-wrenching nostalgia and constantly evokes the pain of recognizing the speed of life's passing which everyone knows but few have the strength to accept -- Alan Cheuse * NPR * A work in the high aesthetic mode, a historical novel cast in delicately evocative prose and filled with witty references to the great figures of modern European literature. In it Italians could examine their political consciences through an artful image of another country's past. The pleasures to be had from Pereira Maintains are rich and varied, but best of all it's very enjoyable * The New York Times * Brilliant ... you'll go on thinking about the characters for weeks * Guardian * Gripping and unexpected * The Times * Pereira Maintains is small only in size. Its themes are great ones?courage, betrayal, fidelity, love, corruption; and its treatment of them is subtle, skillful, and clear. It's so clear, in fact, that you can see a very long way down, into the heart of a flawed but valiant human being, into the sickness of a nation, into the depths of political evil. It's the most impressive novel I've read for years, and one of the very few that feels truly necessary -- Philip Pullman Mysterious, menacing, enthralling and mind-bending ... a masterpiece of compression -- Mohsin Hamid
