Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs

Losing her son in a lorry accident, a woman abandons her lover and her life on the Mexican border and becomes a domestic servant in Madrid; following an awkward menage-a-trois, a timber agent is blackmailed into introducing his lover's boyfriend to his best client; a depressed, misfit French teacher rejects the overtures of students and would-be lovers; all the while sharp-eyed young Araceli watches over everything from her decrepit apartment.

Nesting stories within stories, setting Bret Easton Ellis among his fellow mutts and enigmatic, love-hungry, dying Alba Cambo among her several lovers, Lina Wolff can really throw her readers a sucker punch.

Upstairs/downstairs distinctions blur as Wolff's adroit and subtle novel turns the tables, allowing servants and subordinates to dominate their masters. With a Bolano-esque humor Wolff asks, what chance does love have in this dog-eat-dog world?

Lina Wolff is a Swede who has lived and worked in Italy and Spain. During her years in Valencia and Madrid, she began to write her short story collectionMany People Die Like You. Her novel, Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs, was awarded the prestigiousVi magazine literature prize, given to writers to watch out for, and was shortlisted for the 2013 Swedish Radio award for Best Novel of the Year. She now lives with her family in Sweden.

Frank Perry has translated many of Sweden's leading writers, including Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, and Katarina Frostenson. His work has won the Swedish Academy prize for the introduction of Swedish culture abroad.