Celebrated as one of the greatest writers of his time, Javier Marías is best known for his spy trilogy, Your Face Tomorrow, which has been compared to Proust and hailed as one of the great modern European novels. In his first short story collection for fifteen years, he brings together tales which span his entire writing career : haunting tales from the very edges of life.

An obscenely fat man obsessed with his much younger lover endlessly videotapes her every move, a ghost is condemned to repeatedly resign from his job, and a man of impeccable refinement meets his doppelganger at a work dinner, resulting in ghoulish life changes for both men.