An intimate and mischievous story collection, bursting with desire and playful humour, from legendary film director Pedro Almodóvar

'A major literary talent’ KAVEH AKBAR, author of Martyr!

'Akin to a Spanish Angela Carter' TELEGRAPH

The Last Dream brings together twelve stories from legendary film director Pedro Almodóvar’s personal archive. Delivering a tantalising glimpse into Almodóvar’s world, together they reflect his most intimate obsessions, as well as his daring evolution as an artist.

Ranging from a beautiful chronicle of the death of Almodóvar’s mother in ‘The Last Dream’, to a love story between Jesus and Barabbas, a cult film director out in search of painkillers on a bank holiday weekend, the original story behind the film Bad Education, and a gothic tale of a repentant vampire, these mischievous stories delight and surprise.

‘A heady mix of factual and fictitious, befitting of one of cinema’s most imaginative storytellers’ OBSERVER

‘Keenly observed and spiritually sumptuous’ EMPIRE

Translated by Frank Wynne

*Readers love THE LAST DREAM*

‘Dive into a world where vibrant characters and deep emotions come to life on the page’

‘An intriguing blend of the personal, thoughts, his remarkable professional film career and more from the superb Pedro Almodóvar'

‘Colourful characters and situations, a little madness. Warmth, humour and strangeness'

A heady mix of factual and fictitious, befitting of one of cinema’s most imaginative storytellers… [the collection is] bracing, the book serving as an outlet for something Almodóvar can’t express from behind a camera… The Last Dream has its pleasures – some of them lurid, some rather poignant * Observer *
'The Life and Death of Miguel'...could have been written by Roberto Bolaño at his height... It’s fascinating that in fiction Almodóvar prefers to inhabit [a] historical and often fantastical universe. To judge by The Last Dream, he’s akin to a Spanish Angela Carter, or a cousin to the undersung Argentinian genius Silvina Ocampo. What his films and stories have in common is a vivid melodrama; a preoccupation with motherhood, outsiders and religion -- Camilla Grudova * Telegraph *
It’s no surprise that Pedro Almodóvar’s The Last Dream is instantly fascinating, brimming with twisting narratives and unforgettable endings—Almodóvar has given us three decades of such stories on the big screen. What’s more surprising, what’s actually thrilling, is witnessing this major artist fully flourish in a totally new medium. The characters feel as vivid and complex as anyone I might call to talk about them. Their resentments fester and erupt. They orbit - clumsily, hilariously, tragically - epiphanic moments of emotional and psychosexual clarity. There’s a Borgesian uncanny braided throughout - like Borges, Almodóvar’s mind seems to be reporting from another world to illuminate, clarify, and challenge our own. This is not auxiliary fiction from a film director; The Last Dream stands alone as a major literary talent’s virtuosic debut * Kaveh Akbar, New York Times bestselling author of Martyr! *
The stories in The Last Dream are like a kaleidoscope that reflects to you only the finest, most unexpected moments. The delicious blend of truth and fiction drops you intimately, with raw honesty, inside Almodóvar’s heart. I love this book! * Miguel Arteta, director of Beatriz At Dinner *
The Last Dream is an inspiring testament to one of cinema’s great creative forces. These stories/ allegories/ dreams/ philosophical riffs and intense personal sketches shimmer with all of the vibrance, humour, provocation and humanity of Almodóvar’s entire body of work. A true delight * Sam Lypsyte, author of the New York Times bestseller The Ask *
Like his films…[the short stories] are keenly observed, melodramatically powerful, sad and sardonic…and always spiritually sumptuous * Empire *
With its intriguing mix of short stories and personal sketches the book is more interesting than the average autobiography… there is much to enjoy in this book * Morning Star *

Pedro Almodóvar (Author)
Pedro Almodóvar is a world-renowned, multi-award-winning film director and screenwriter whose many films include Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother and Talk to Her. Almodóvar has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and five Goya Awards.