The much lauded modern classic is now being canonised

* Pereira Maintains is small only in size. Its themes are great ones - courage, betrayal, fidelity, love, corruption; and its treatment of them is subtle, skilful, and clear. It's so clear, in fact, that you can see a very long way down, into the heart of a flawed but valiant human being, into the sickness of a nation, into the depths of political evil. It's the most impressive novel I've read for years, and one of the very few that feels truly necessary -- Philip Pullman * A brilliant, profound book that also manages to be a thriller -- Roddy Doyle * Brilliant ... you'll go on thinking about the characters and the way it's written for weeks Guardian Every word of Mohsin Hamid's introduction is true: it's a stunningly good novel, and it goes on getting better in one's head after one has stopped reading it - it works as an experience - something that has happened to one, which is of course, the proof of great writing. -- Diana Athill * Gripping and unexpected The Times * Close to being a perfect novel - brief, tragic, inspiring -- John Carey, Chairman of the International Man Booker 2002 * A masterpiece of compression. A political history of 1930s Portugal, a love story between a man and his dead wife, a gloriously successful formal experiment, and an irresistible thriller - and it can be read with enormous pleasure in a single afternoon. -- Mohsin Hamid * Pereira is a marvelously complex creation. One of the most intriguing and appealing character studies in recent European fiction. Kirkus Reviews * It grips from start to finish...a riveting political allegory Financial Times * Tabucchi writes...with an agility of mind and an economy of narrative that pulls the reader along Observer * Political but gorgeously artful, sad and then laugh out loud funny, pacy as a thriller ...This book is perfectly executed Dazed and Confused * This novel...has been sensitively and intelligently translated revealing this understated masterpiece of love and courage. Good Book Guide * Concise, intense and striking. Daily Telegraph * Seemingly plain at first, the story becomes gripping as soon as you realize that the beauty of Tabucchi's narrative lies in between the lines, making the novel a thought-provoking and delightful read. -- Maria-Christina Marchi Time Out * A powerfully concise story of heroism versus acquiescence which gains eloquence from its simplicity Sunday Telegraph * Tabucchi's book (widely interpreted as a critique of Berlusconi) niggles away at the ambiguous space between aggrieved resistance and passive inaction Guardian * In its quiet, brilliant way, this is a novel you will read carefully. It is subtle and powerful; it deserves to be a classic. Scotsman * A moving intellectual thriller London Magazine * subtle and powerful; it deserves to be a classic -- William Leith The Scotsman * gripping Baby & Me * A masterpiece ... Romantic, devastating, thrilling and formally inventive -- Mohsin Hamid Esquire Magazine * At once a thrilling mystery, a literary inquiry, and a meditation on politics and fascism, this novel about an overweight journalist in 1930s Portugal amazed me with its compression and use of the testimonial form. Close to perfection. -- Mohsin Hamid The Week * Tabucchi now takes his place alongside Irene Nemirovsky, Sandor Marai and Stefan Zweig as one of the great Continental rediscoveries for English-speaking readers in recent years Daily Telegraph * As engrossing as it is important Times Literary Supplement * Charming and enjoyable. Short, languid and deceptively simple, it builds up an atmospheric portrait of 1930s Portugal, lovingly picking out picturesque scenery ... It is funny, too Sunday Times

ANTONIO TABUCCHI was born in Pisa in 1943. Tabucchi authored twenty critically acclaimed novels and short story collections, nine of which have been translated into English, together with numerous essays and plays. Twice shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, he received many prestigious awards, including the Prix Medicis etranger for Indian Nocturne and the Premio Campiello, the Premio Viareggio and the Aristeion Prize for Pereira Maintains. Tabucchi was Emeritus professor at the University of Siena, and also taught at Bard College in New York, the Ecole de Hautes Etudes and the College de France in Paris. He died in 2012.