Javier Cercas is the author of Soldiers of Salamis (Spain, 2001, Bloomsbury, 2003), The Tenant & The Motive (Spain 2000, 2003, Bloomsbury UK, 2005) El Vientre de la ballena (The Belly of the Whale, 1997) and Relatos Reales (True Tales, 2000). He has taught at the University of Illinois and since 1989 has been a lecturer in Spanish literature at the University of Gerona. Anne McLean has translated Latin American and Spanish novels, short stories, memoirs and other writings by writers including Carmen Martín Gaite, Orlando Gonzalez, Julio Cortázar and Tomás Eloy Martínez .

Soldiers of Salamis was a huge international success, selling over 1 million copies worldwide, being translated into over 20 languages and winning Cercas and Anne McLean the Independent Prize for Foreign Fiction in the UK.