cover image A Pretty Face

A Pretty Face

Rafael Reig, , trans. from the Spanish by Paul Hammond. . Serpent's Tail, $14.95 (181pp) ISBN 978-1-85242-922-5

A ghost narrates Reig's whimsical speculative novel, set in the same alternative Madrid as Blood on the Saddle (2006). After a thug fires a bullet into the head of 35-year-old María Dolores Eguíbar Madrazo, a children's book author who writes under the name Lola Lios, her ghost seeks to find out why she was murdered. Might there be some connection with her ex-husband, Fernando Eguilaz, a famous scientist who's been hard at work “synthesising neuroprotein K666” (discovered by Lola's psychiatrist father) as a potential cure for death? Lola's most popular fictional character, Benito Viruta, provides solace as she muses on what was, what might have been and what is. “To really live you have to learn to die,” she concludes. Reig conjures an extraordinary ending that's as elusive as a butterfly's kiss. (Dec.)