The Pain of Others

“This book joins a rare group of works to fully interrogate the exploitation of our relationships with others in the context of true crime…Gorgeous, painful, and brilliant.” —CrimeReads, The Best International Fiction of the Month“Haunting…If this was a straightforward work of memoir, it would be compelling enough, but as its narrator works his way through true crime tropes and the enduring attraction of terrible events, it becomes something even more powerful: an unforgettable meditation on memory and violence.” —Words Without Borders “The Pain of Others captures, more than any other recent book I’ve read, the ethical and moral quandaries of transforming trauma and tragedy into art. In a brilliant mixture of literature and reportage, Miguel Ángel Hernández writes movingly about the limits of memory and empathy and the downstream effects of a senseless act that ripped the fabric of family, community, and the author himself.” —Sarah Weinman, author of The Real Lolita and Without Consent “An impressive reckoning.” —Publishers Weekly “The Pain of Others is a daring, exquisitely constructed novel about memory, guilt, and the fragile boundaries between witness and storyteller. Miguel Ángel Hernández transforms the raw material of tragedy into something luminous—a meditation on art’s power to reveal and to wound. In prose as precise as it is haunted, he shows how the past never ends; it lies in wait for our return.” —Tope Folarin, author of A Particular Kind of Black Man“An absorbing book of unwavering honesty. A magnificent novel without fiction.” —Javier Cercas, author of Soldiers of Salamis“Unparalleled writing that breathes a chilling truth. Miguel Ángel Hernández has written his best book—and that’s saying something. A must-read.” —Agustín Fernández Mallo, author of The Nocilla Trilogy“The author as host and guest in his own story. A mediation on writing, a friend who murders his sister then takes his own life, who appears out of the blue in a photograph, an investigation, a portrait of Spain in the 90s and, in short, an outstanding novel by Miguel Ángel Hernández.” —Fernando Aramburu, author of Homeland“A unique, powerful, and brutal novel.” —Qué Leer“A work as harrowing as it is empathetic—raw and beautiful.” —Rockdelux“A magnificent autobiographical text, full of pain and unanswered questions.” —Les Inrockuptibles“A moving book, written with exquisite intelligence and sensitivity. A treatise on inappropriate affections and the failure to understand evil when it appears in our communities and takes root in those we love—on empathy, the power of language, and its limits.” —El País

Miguel Ángel Hernandez is a Spanish writer best known for his works of fiction, among them the novels Intento de escapada (2013), which won the Premio Ciudad Alcala de Narrativa and was translated into five languages, El instante de peligro (2015), which was a finalist for the Premio Herralde de Novela, and El dolor de los demas (2018), which was selected as a book of the year by El Pais and the New York Times en Espanol. Hernandez teaches art history at the University of Murcia and has authored several books on art and visual culture. His novel Anoxia was published by Other Press in 2025.

Adrian Nathan West is a writer and literary critic based in Spain. He has translated more than twenty books, among them Rainald Goetz’s Insane and Sibylle Lacan’s A Father- Puzzle.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.