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The Return

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

‘In this neighbourhood, only the dead go out for a walk’...

A young party animal collapses in a Parisian disco and dies on the dance floor, only to watch his soul departing his body. Two embittered police detectives debate their favourite weapons. A violent man looks back on his childhood and seeks out the now-aged male porn actor his mother shot movies with.

Here is the eagerly anticipated second volume of stories by Roberto Bolaño. Tender or etched in acid; hazily suggestive or chillingly definitive: The Return is a trove of strangely arresting short master works.

TRANSLATED BY CHRIS ANDREWS

'Dark, intimate and sneakily touching... There is gold to be found in this collection' New York Review of Books

‘Each tale turns the reader into a voyeur, grasping at snapshots of troubled lives and ghosts’ Observer

‘A compelling encapsulation of Bolaño's work... You won't be bored’ Los Angeles Times

© Roberto Bolaño 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Anthologies & Short Stories Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Short Stories World Literature

Critic reviews

'Dark, intimate and sneakily touching . . . there is gold to be found in this collection'
Each tale turns the reader into a voyeur, grasping at snapshots of troubled lives and ghosts.
The sense of embattlement that animates the writing, and the scab-picking intensity that he brings to his obsessions, makes The Return a compelling encapsulation of Bolaño's work . . . you won't be bored.
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