The His and Her Novels: Berta Isla & Tomas Nevinson by Javier Marias and translated by Margaret Jull Costa

If you’re a so called couple, what level of secrecy is normal or even acceptable. This was the subject Javier Marias explored when he penned these His and Her novels.

They meet whilst children in the playground, where they cement a relationship to last a lifetime. Tomas accepts the opportunity to spend time teaching in Oxford. Berta remains in Madrid. Whilst in Oxford, Tomas strays into a casual relationship, the outcome of which will change their lives quite dramatically. The stories are set in an era when Oxford colleges are the breeding ground for Spies and MI6.

One dark evening things seemingly go very wrong for Tomas, placing him into a situation where he either spends the rest of his life behind bars or reluctantly joins MI6. He takes the only route, so from this point onwards the two novels become separate also more and more engrossing. Two sides of the same coin…

Both books are so well written and translated. Sadly, Javier Marias died on the 11th September 2022 from pneumonia following Covid. He too spent time teaching in Oxford, which ignites the question how does he know so much about the inner workings of MI6. Full of literary references, these two novels are quite exceptional. Marias was considered by some to be too cerebral. Many expected him to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. His sentences were famous for pushing Spanish beyond its previous syntactical limits. He loved the comma, which he employed to connect sentence after sentence.

How sad he’s no longer with us to enthral.

I would suggest you read Berta Isla first.

Jane.

To purchase a copy of either book, please click here.