"Morel's Invention may be described, without exaggeration, as a perfect novel." -Octavio Paz

A new translation of Adolfo Bioy Casares's metaphysical masterpiece, a marvelously plotted story of a fugitive writer who discovers an uncanny phenomenon taking place on his island hideout.

Jorge Luis Borges declared Morel's Invention a masterpiece of plotting, comparable to The Turn of The Screw and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Set on a mysterious island, Bioy's novella is a story of suspense and exploration, as well as a wonderfully unlikely romance, in which every detail is at once crystal clear and deeply mysterious.

Inspired by Bioy Casares's fascination with the movie star Louise Brooks, Morel's Invention has gone on to live a secret life of its own. Greatly admired by Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, and Octavio Paz, the novella helped to usher in Latin American fiction's now famous postwar boom. As the model for Alain Resnais and Alain Robbe-Grillet's Last Year at Marienbad, it also changed the history of film.

Marget Jull Costa's new translation of Morel's Invention, the first into English in more than 50 years, brings out the full force of the story's beguiling and metaphysical power.