Berta Isla

"Berta Isla and Tomas Nevinson meet in Madrid. They are both very young and quickly decide to spend their lives together - never suspecting that they will grow to be total strangers, both living living under the shadow of disappearances. Tomas, half-Spanish and half-English, has an extraordinary gift for languages and accents. Leaving Berta to study at Oxford, he catches the interest of a certain government agency, and its mysterious agent, Bertram Tupra. But Tomas resists the call of fate - until one, foolish day he makes an avoidable mistake - setting in motion events that will affect the rest of his life and that of his beloved Berta. Finishing his time at Oxford, he returns to Madrid to marry her, already knowing the life they planned has been lost forever. Darkly gripping, Berta Isla is a story about a relationship condemned to secrecy and concealment, to pretence and conjecture, to resentment mingled with loyalty. With meticulous insight and understanding of the human soul, Marias examines the urge to change our destiny, and the hopeless exiles we bring upon ourselves."--Publisher information.