Mercury Pictures Presents

Anthony Marra John Murray €21.50

Mercury Pictures International is a small-time, struggling Hollywood studio churning out B-movies. Headed by the mercurial Artie Feldmann, it is staffed largely by emigres from Nazioccupied Europe, who are subsequently designated enemy aliens when war breaks out. Focusing predominantly on the fortunes and back story of an Italian exile, assistant producer Maria Lagana, Marra’s second novel is a stylish examination of displacement and assimilation. Set in an endemically racist Los Angeles, its inventive prose pulses with humour, wit and affection.