''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 InternationalistFélix 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 García Márquez and you''ve got José Eduardo Agualusa'' ALAN KAUFMANTranslated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn