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Summary
A gripping and poignant novel about a mysterious romance from one of Latin America’s greatest writers.
‘Splendid, suspenseful and irresistible.’ New York Times
‘Immensely moving.’ Spectator
When the beautiful teenage Lily arrives in Lima in 1950, fifteen-year-old Ricardo falls instantly in love with her. She claims to be from Chile, but vanishes the moment it becomes clear that she has lied about both her name and her nationality. A decade later, now living in Paris, Ricardo falls in love with a woman named Comrade Arlette, who is incredibly similar to Lily but refuses to acknowledge that she is the same person. For his whole life, Ricardo seems doomed to keep running into ‘Lily’, and to keep falling in love with her. Will he ever discover who she really is?
MarioVargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010. He also won the Cervantes Prize, the most distinguished literary honour in the Spanish-speaking world. His many works include The Feast of the Goat, The Bad Girl and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter as well as several collections of essays, journalism and plays. He died in April 2025.
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Mario Vargas Llosa's editor at Faber, Robert McCrum, remembers the Peruvian writer following his death earlier this year.