Volume one of Javier Marias's acclaimed and evocative 'novel in parts'

Recently divorced, Jacques Deza moves from Madrid to London to start anew. At a party held by retired don, semi-retired spy and old friend Sir Peter Wheeler, he meets the inscrutable Bertram Tupra. Tupra is impressed by Deza's talent for seeing through people and enlists him in a mysterious group. His mission is to observe an assortment of people including politicians, celebrities and seemingly ordinary citizens with the aim of predicting their next move. Through Deza's descent into the dark world of observation, Marias sculpts a profound meditation on the foundations of human relationships and questions our ability to truly know and understand those around us.