Atom Heart Mother

‘There are certain writers whose work you turn to knowing you’ll find extraordinary things there. Borges is one of them, Bolaño another. Agustín Fernández Mallo has become one, too.’
— Chris Power, author of A Lonely Man

‘A profoundly personal novel that explores the enigma of family and memory with a philosopher’s eye. Illness, childhood, history, travel, all are seamlessly entwined into a moving requiem for the collective experience of grief. Atom Heart Mother is Mallo's most impressive novel, emotional and humane, while still evocative of his earlier work.’
— Mark Haber, author of Lesser Ruins

‘A book of tenderness and dread, a memorial that's at the same time completely alive.’
— Sam Riviere, author of Doppelgänger

‘A tangled, tender meditation on memory and the limits of sense-making. Fernández Mallo gets to the heart of how grief can propel a search for comprehension. Who were our fathers and mothers? How might we unpick the knot that connects their lives to our own?’
— Thomas McMullan, author of Groundwater

‘The most original and powerful author of his generation in Spain.’
— Mathias Enard, author of Compass

‘A little masterpiece.’
— Berna González Harbour, El País

‘A mature book, written at the height of his powers – I would go so far as to say the best of his books.’
— J. M. Pozuelo Yvancos, ABC

‘Only Fernández Mallo, with his emotional irreverence and his intelligence, could write something this original and this dazzling about love and family.’
— Manuel Jabois, author of Malaherba

‘One of the best writers in Spanish, with an absolutely unique style and fictional world.’
— Jorge Carrión, New York Times in Spanish

‘A strange and original sensibility at work – one that combines a deep commitment to the possibilities of art with a gonzo spirit and a complete absence of pretention.’
— Christopher Beha, Harper’s