From the Shadows - Paperback

by Juan José Millás (Author), Thomas Bunstead (Translator), Daniel Hahn (Translator)

Publishers Weekly "Top 10 Books of the Year" selection

From one of Spain's most original authors comes a wild, absurdist story about a lonely man's misguided attempts to connect

Laid off from his job, Damiáaacute;n Lobo obsessively imagines himself as a celebrity being interviewed on TV. After committing an act of petty theft at an antiques market, he finds himself trapped inside a wardrobe and delivered to the seemingly idyllic home of a husband, wife, and their internet-addicted teenage daughter. There, he sneaks from the shadows to serve as an invisible butler, becoming deeply and disastrously involved with his unknowing host family. Every thread of the plot is ingeniously tied together, creating a potent admixture of parable, love story, and thriller. Millás masterfully reveals the everyday as innately surreal as he renders the unbelievable tangible and the trivial fantastical, and full of dark humor.

Author Biography

Juan José Millás is the recipient of Spain's most prestigious literary prizes: the Premio Nadal, Premio Planeta, and Premio Nacional de Narrativa. He is the author of several short story collections and works of nonfiction as well as over a dozen novels, including two published in North America: Let No One Sleep and From the Shadows, a Publishers Weekly "Top 10 Book of the Year." A regular contributor to El País, Millás has also won many awards for his journalism. He lives in Madrid.