Tatiana, a young Mexican woman, is adrift in Berlin. Choosing a life of solitude, she takes a job transcribing notes for the reclusive Doktor Weiss. Through him she meets 'ant illustrator turned meteorologist' Jonas, a Berliner who has used clouds and the sky's constant shape-shifting as his escape from reality. As their three paths intersect and merge, the contours of all their worlds begins to change...

'Aridjis has achieved something quite astonishing: a rethinking of one of our most complacent forms, the historical novel....the writer she calls to mind is Haruki Murakami, with his unsolved riddles and ultra-cool characters. It is a book that you press on friends' The Times

Tatiana, a young Mexican woman, is adrift in Berlin. Choosing a life of solitude, she takes a job transcribing notes for the reclusive Doktor Weiss. Through him she meets 'ant illustrator turned meteorologist' Jonas, a Berliner who has used clouds and the sky's constant shape-shifting as his escape from reality. As their three paths intersect and merge, the contours of all their worlds begins to change...

'A hypnotic first novel... This book has the power of dreams and still hasn't left me' Junot Diaz

'Exceptional... a beautifully turned piece of writing of extraordinary assurance...this is beautiful and assured writing on any terms, and as natural as breathing. Both vivid and dreamlike, at once very precise in its images and also enchantingly broad-brush atmospheric, this is a debut more captivating than any I've read in some time' Independent on Sunday

'A stirring and lyrical first novel by a young writer of immense talent' Paul Auster