The Difficult Ghost

In 1960, Truman Capote arrived in the small town of Palamós on the Costa Brava. He'd hoped a short break from New York's social scene would help him finish the book he was writing about two young men convicted of a horrific murder. He wound up staying in Europe for three years of agonising self-exile, wrestling with his haunting material, crafting a masterpiece, and waiting for the event that would allow him to finish it-the execution of those two men.Following in Capote's footsteps in Palamós, celebrated journalist Leila Guerriero finds almost no trace of those turbulent years. As she sorts through a jumble of competing local accounts and blatant fabrications, she launches a dazzling enquiry into the curious afterlife of writing-and the dark complexities of turning life into literature.



Leila Guerriero is one of Latin America's most acclaimed journalists. Born in Junin in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, she began her career at the magazine Página/30. Since then, her work has appeared in many international publications, including Rolling Stone, El País, La Nación and L'Internazionale. Her books include A Simple Story, also available from Pushkin Press, and the prize-winning, bestselling La llamada, which is forthcoming from Pushkin in 2026. Guerriero lives in Buenos Aires.Megan McDowell is a Spanish-language literary translator from Kentucky. Her work includes books by Alejandro Zambra, Samanta Schweblin, Lina Meruane, Mariana Enríquez, Álvaro Bisama, Arturo Fontaine, and Juan Emar.