''He was haunted by a feeling of invisibility, as if he were a mere spectator of his own life, with no one to identify him in the barren circumstances of the here and now.'' Paul Sturgis is retired and lives alone in South Kensington. He walks alone and dines alone, taking pleasure in small exchanges with strangers. His only acquaintance is a widowed cousin whom he visits on Sundays. Unable to make sense of his solitary nature, and fearing death among strangers, he wonders whether at last he might be ready for companionship. But a chance meeting with an old girlfriend and an encounter in Venice with a recently divorced younger woman compel Sturgis to decide how (and with whom) he will spend the rest of his days …
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Anita Brookner (Londres, 1928-2016). Hija de inmigrantes polacos, después de doctorarse en Historia del Arte fue profesora del Courtauld Institute y la primera mujer que accedió a la cátedra Slade de Bellas Artes en la Universidad de Cambridge. Publicó varios estudios sobre pintura francesa del siglo XVIII y es autora de veinticuatro novelas, entre las que destacan Un debut en la vida (1981); Look at Me (1983); Hotel du Lac (1984), ganadora del premio Booker; Latecomers (1988); Vidas breves (1990); Una historia de familia (1993) y Strangers (2009).