Bordeaux, a shrewd and moving portrayal of life in contemporary Europe, is the first novel to appear in English by Soledad Puértolas, one of the most acclaimed writers in Spain today. A novel that subtly takes the measure of our time, Bordeaux traces the fates of three people: Pauline Duvivier, an elderly woman who lives a solitary life in a tranquil suburb of Bordeaux; René Dufour, a Frenchman involved in unfulfilling relationships with several women; and Lilly Skalnick, a young American woman traveling in Europe. Their stories, which take place in France and elsewhere throughout Europe and the United States, intersect in seemingly random yet revealing ways, gradually forming a complex social portrait. Unifying all their stories are the themes of loneliness, restlessness, and the search for meaning in a world in which neither the past nor the present offers firm answers or lasting consolations.

‘The lunatic, the lover, and the poet,are of imagination all compact.’- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s DreamTo commemorate the 400th anniversary of the deaths of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, And Other Stories and Hay Festival have selected twelve contemporary international authors to each write an original and previously unpublished story as their tribute to these giants of world literature.In order to celebrate the international influence of both writers and offer us new and intriguing perspectives on them, six English-speaking authors have taken inspiration from Cervantes and his work, while six Spanish-language authors have written stories inspired by Shakespeare.The authors are Ben Okri, Deborah Levy, Kamila Shamsie, Yuri Herrera, Marcos Giralt Torrente, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Vicente Molina Foix, Soledad Puértolas, Hisham Matar, Nell Leyshon, Rhidian Brook and Valeria Luiselli. An introduction by Salman Rushdie explores the liberating legacy of Cervantes and Shakespeare for contemporary fiction.

Bordeaux, a shrewd and moving portrayal of life in contemporary Europe, is the first novel to appear in English by Soledad Puértolas, one of the most acclaimed writers in Spain today. A novel that subtly takes the measure of our time, Bordeaux traces the fates of three people: Pauline Duvivier, an elderly woman who lives a solitary life in a tranquil suburb of Bordeaux; René Dufour, a Frenchman involved in unfulfilling relationships with several women; and Lilly Skalnick, a young American woman traveling in Europe. Their stories, which take place in France and elsewhere throughout Europe and the United States, intersect in seemingly random yet revealing ways, gradually forming a complex social portrait. Unifying all their stories are the themes of loneliness, restlessness, and the search for meaning in a world in which neither the past nor the present offers firm answers or lasting consolations.

‘The lunatic, the lover, and the poet,are of imagination all compact.’- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s DreamTo commemorate the 400th anniversary of the deaths of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, And Other Stories and Hay Festival have selected twelve contemporary international authors to each write an original and previously unpublished story as their tribute to these giants of world literature.In order to celebrate the international influence of both writers and offer us new and intriguing perspectives on them, six English-speaking authors have taken inspiration from Cervantes and his work, while six Spanish-language authors have written stories inspired by Shakespeare.The authors are Ben Okri, Deborah Levy, Kamila Shamsie, Yuri Herrera, Marcos Giralt Torrente, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Vicente Molina Foix, Soledad Puértolas, Hisham Matar, Nell Leyshon, Rhidian Brook and Valeria Luiselli. An introduction by Salman Rushdie explores the liberating legacy of Cervantes and Shakespeare for contemporary fiction.