
” In Vendela Vida`s taut & mesmerizing novel of ideas, a woman travels to Casablanca, Morocco, on mysterious business. While checking into her hotel, the woman is robbed of her wallet & passport-all of her money & identification. Though the police investigate, the woman senses an undercurrent of complicity between the hotel staff & the authorities-she knows she`ll never recover her possessions. Stripped of her identity, she feels burdened by the crime yet strangely liberated by her sudden freedom to be anyone she chooses. A chance encounter with a movie producer leads to a job posing as a st&-in for a well-known film star. The star reels her in deeper, though, & soon she`s inhabiting the actress`s skin off set, too-going deeper into the Casablancan night & further from herself. & so continues a strange & breathtaking journey full of unexpected turns, an adventure in which the woman finds herself moving further & further away from the person she once was. Told with vibrant, lush detail & a wicked sense of humor, The Diver`s Clothes Lie Empty is part literary mystery, part psychological thriller-an unforgettable novel that explores free will, power, & a woman`s right to choose not her past, perhaps not her present, but certainly her future. This is Vendela Vida`s most assured & ambitious novel yet.”