Rey Rosa, Rodrigo

Several novels by Guatemalan author Rey Rosa have been translated by Paul Bowles, with whom he studied; eventually, Rey Rosa became executor of Bowles's estate...

A bookseller falls in love with a book thief, but their affair is suddenly complicated when the woman's grandfather, who is in her care, falls ill and dies...

Paul Bowles, who was an expatriate in Morocco for 52 years, mentored Rey Rosa, and this novel draws on Bowles's masterpiece of expat literature The Sheltering Sky. The astonishing manner in which Rey Rosa weaves the various threads of the story into an amazing whole is brilliant. This is not an easy book, but lovers of beautiful, challenging novellas such as those of Jorges Luis Borges or Italo Calvino will definitely enjoy it.