I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me

Juan Pablo Villalobos was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1973. He studied marketing and Spanish literature, before working as a market researcher, and writing travel stories and literary and film criticism. He has researched topics as diverse as the influence of the avant-garde on the work of César Aira and the flexibility of pipelines for electrical installations. His books include his Guardian First Book Award-shortlisted debut Down the Rabbit Hole, as well as Quesadillas and I'll Sell You a Dog. He is married with two Mexican-Brazilian-Italian-Catalan children. I Don't Expect Anyone to Believe Me is his fourth novel.

I dont expect anyone to believe me, warns the narrator of this novel, a Mexican student called Juan Pablo Villalobos. He is about to fly to Barcelona on a scholarship when hes kidnapped in a bookshop and whisked away by thugs to a basement. The pistol-toting gangsters are threatening his 'dickhead cousin, who is gagged and tied to a chair. They say Juan Pablo must work for them. His mission? To make Laia, a Mexican student in Barcelona and the daughter of a corrupt politician, fall in love with him. First, though, Juan Pablo tries to explain his thesis on humour in twentieth century literature to the assembled gangsters.

Exuberantly foul-mouthed and intellectually agile, with this hugely entertaining book Villalobos makes light work of difficult subjects: immigration, corruption, family loyalty and love.

A mash-up of campus novel and gangster thriller, Villalobos takes a satirical, sidelong look at immigration in Europe with inimitable wit. Winner of Spains prestigious Herralde Prize, I Dont Expect Anyone to Believe Me is Villalobos at his clever, comic best.

The author of Down the Rabbit Hole delivers a hilarious and prize-winning tale of immigrants, students and gangsters in Barcelona