Álvaro es un escritor que está obsesionado con escribir una gran obra literaria. Para lograrlo, asiste a todas las escuelas y talleres de escritura que encuentra, pero él no tiene talento. En cambio, su mujer publica un best-seller, lo que provocará una inminente ruptura.

En su nueva y solitaria vida, Álvaro visualiza a sus vecinos como modelos para sus personajes, pero comenzará a manipular sus vidas para poder plasmar conflictos reales en su historia, no importa si se tiene que acostar con la portera, empujar a su vecino inmigrante al paro o engañar a un anciano.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Published for the first time thirty years ago, The Motive, Javier Cercas's first novel, is an absorbing meta-literary thriller that seems to contain the germ of the entire oeuvre of this novelist, today acclaimed as one of the great contemporary European writers.

Álvaro is a writer who is obsessed with writing a great literary work. To that end, he attends every school and writing workshop he can find, but he has no talent. On the other hand, his wife publishes a best-seller, which provokes an immediate breakup.

In his new, solitary life, Álvaro visualizes his neighbors as models for his characters, but he starts to manipulate their lives in order to capture real conflicts in his stories: no matter if he has to sleep with the security guard, push his immigrant neighbor to strike, or trick an old man.