Outlaws

by Javier Cercas

Overview

On a summer day at the arcade, timid sixteen-year-old Ignacio Cañas encounters two charismatic rebels: El Zarco ("Blue Eyes") and his gorgeous girl, Tere. Entranced, he crosses the border into their dangerous world, becoming their partner in crimes that quickly escalate.

Twenty-five years later, Tere materializes in Cañas's office, needing help. Cañas has settled back into middle-class life, becoming a successful defense lawyer. Zarco has matured into a convict of some infamy. Yet somehow, with new stakes, this three-way affair will begin again.

With his usual brio, Javier Cercas surveys the borders between right and wrong, respectability and criminality, and to what extent we can pass between them—or determine on which side we ultimately fall. This brilliantly plotted tale firmly establishes him as one of the most rewarding novelists writing today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781408844205
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	02/09/2016
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Javier Cercas is a lecturer in Spanish Literature at the University of Gerona. Soldiers of Salamis has been published in fifteen languages.

Editorial Reviews

“A moving meditation on youth, love, betrayal and the media, as well as an uncompromising political novel. Cercas has yet again expanded our idea of what fiction can do.” —Juan Gabriel Vasquez, author of The Secret History of Costaguana

“His novels probe the sore spots and raw wounds of contemporary Spain, their cunning and complexity leavened by a light touch and an easy, graceful style in which captivating dialogue becomes a genuinely dialect pursuit of truth.” —Boyd Tonkin, Independent on Sunday

“Compelling . . . Though the novel moves towards a suite of surprising and unsettling revelations about the characters, the real strengths of the book are in Cercas's unadorned prose, once again deftly translated by Anne McLean, and in his ear for the rhythms of everyday speech.” —Guardian

“Cercas adroitly balances the earlier criminal thrills with the later moral and emotional complexities” —New Statesman

“[A] sly novel about the lives and fates of a gang of teenage outlaws in post-Franco Spain . . . Enticing mysteries drive the narrative forward . . . Yet it's the overarching mystery of identity that ultimately sets this novel apart.” —The New York Times Book Review

“The beauty of this intelligently probing novel is that one is left wondering if we ever truly know anything about anybody--that anybody including ourselves.” —Scotsman

“The story is told entirely through speech--different speakers addressing an unnamed interviewer in alternating chapters. It's an elegant construction that gives immediacy and pace from the start.” —Literary Review

“A vibrant yet realistic portrait of two teenage boys who find themselves in very different circumstances in adulthood . . . It's a compelling, drawn-out story with rich period detail and emotional depth.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Cercas adroitly balances the earlier criminal thrills with the later moral and emotional complexities.” —New Statesman

From the Publisher