Mysterious, menacing, enthralling and mind-bending … a masterpiece of compression

Pereira Maintains is small only in size. Its themes are great ones?courage, betrayal, fidelity, love, corruption; and its treatment of them is subtle, skillful, 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

Gripping and unexpected

Brilliant … you’ll go on thinking about the characters for weeks

A work in the high aesthetic mode, a historical novel cast in delicately evocative prose and filled with witty references to the great figures of modern European literature. In it Italians could examine their political consciences through an artful image of another country’s past. The pleasures to be had from Pereira Maintains are rich and varied, but best of all it’s very enjoyable

Tabucchi’s prose creates a deep, near-profound and sometimes heart-wrenching nostalgia and constantly evokes the pain of recognizing the speed of life’s passing which everyone knows but few have the strength to accept

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

A brilliant, profound book that also manages to be a thriller