8 /10 1 Votes
Original title Corazón tan blanco Publication date 1992 Originally published 1992 Genre Novel Country Spain | 4/5 Goodreads Language Spanish Media type Print Translator Margaret Jull Costa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publisher Editorial Anagrama S.A., Barcelona Published in English 1995 (The Harvill Press) Awards International Dublin Literary Award Similar Works by Javier Marías, International Dublin Literary Award winners, Novels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A Heart So White by Javier Marías was first published in Spain in 1992 (original title Corazón tan blanco.) Margaret Jull Costa's English translation was first published by The Harvill Press in 1995. The book received the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1997. An edition was published by Penguin Books in 2012, with an introduction by Jonathan Coe.
Contents
Plot
The narrator, Juan, seeks to use his newly-wed wife, Luisa, to uncover the murky past of his father's previous marriages which include (aside from Juan's mother) two other women. The first of these women is unnamed and kept secret from Juan, while the second was the older sister of Juan's mother.
Reception
Called "dazzling" by The Times Literary Supplement and "a landmark by a genuine artist" by Le Monde, A Heart So White won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was rated by El Pais as "his best and most ambitious novel."