The Book of Chameleons

£9.99

The narrator of this novel is a rather charming lizard. He lives on Félix Ventura’s living-room wall, Félix, the lizard’s friend and hero of the story, is a man who sells pasts – if you don’t like yours, he can come up with a new one for you, a new past – full of better memories, with a complete lineage, photos and all.

Out of stock

Description

Ingenious, consistently taut and witty’ TLS

‘Humorous and quizzical, with a light touch on weighty themes, the narrative darts about with lizard-like colour and velocity’ Independent

‘Strange, elliptical, charming’ Guardian

‘A poetic, beguiling meditation on truth and storytelling . . . from the dreamscapes of magical realism to a gripping political thriller and even a murder mystery’ New Internationalist

Félix Ventura trades in memories, a slippery character selling new pasts to people whose bright futures lack only a good lineage, and wiping clean the slate of their identity.

In a narrative that darts between past and present Angola, a bookish albino man, a beautiful woman, a mysterious foreigner and a witty talking lizard come together to discover their real origins. For theirs is a world where the truth seems to shift from moment to moment and where history itself is up for grabs . . .

WINNER OF THE INDEPENDENT FOREIGN FICTION PRIZE

‘A work of fierce originality’ Independent


‘Without doubt one of the most important Portuguese-language writers of his generation’ ANTÓNIO LOBO ANTUNES


‘Cross J. M. Coetzee with Gabriel Garcìa Márquez and you’ve got José Eduardo Agualusa’
ALAN KAUFMAN

Translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn

Additional information

Weight 0.14 kg
Dimensions 19.6 × 12.8 × 1.8 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

208

Language

English

Edition

Reprint

Dewey

869.342 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

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