Sign-In
Cart
Careful Readers
Paperback
General FictionLiterary Fiction
Publisher Price: $16.99
Publisher: Sapere Aude Books
Published: Sep 5 2026
Pages: 294
Weight: 0.75
Height: 0.66 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Mephisto collects souls. He holds contracts for a Cuban American copyeditor, a novelist in Germany who sells well but can't make rent, and a Tokyo bar entertainer who reads Faulkner. For the first time, the devil's marks can compare notes. Each of them signed for what they needed most, and each of them is paying the price. One with no shadow, one in no mirror, and one without real language, the three of them do the only thing they were ever good at. They read closely. They work together to break the contracts that unmade them. Their path to salvation follows translation, diaspora, and human connection.
Three lives across continents, woven by a Faustian bargain, and a climax that pays off.
For fans of Ryka Aoki's Light from Uncommon Stars and V.E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.Readers of intelligent, sophisticated, form-conscious fiction will appreciate de Aja's craftsmanship and characters as well as the gorgeous movement of his plot. Fans of Borges and Calvino will revel in the decisions this author has made. And it will be no surprise if the novel ends up on lists of upcoming award nominations. Careful Readers is a must-read.- Stephen Dudas, PhD, Reedsy DiscoveryCover design by Alexander Naughton
Also in
Literary Fiction
Elizabeth Spencer: Novels & Stories (Loa #344): The Voice at the Back Door / The Light in the Piazza / Knights and Dragons / Stories
Spencer, Elizabeth
Hardcover
Philip Roth: Novels 1973-1977 (Loa #165): The Great American Novel / My Life as a Man / The Professor of Desire
Roth, Philip
Hardcover
John Updike: Novels 1978-1984 (Loa #339): The Coup / Rabbit Is Rich / The Witches of Eastwick
Updike, John
Hardcover
The Patrick Melrose Novels: Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, and Mother's Milk
St Aubyn, Edward
Paperback