<DIV>Unavailable to English readers for more than 50 years, <i>The Island of Second Sight</i> is a literary tour de force, a Bolaño-esque sage of World War II. First published in Germany in 1953, it became a bestseller and has never been out of print. It is the fictionalized autobiography of the author and his wife's years on Mallorca in the early 1930s. Low on money, they seek shelter in a brothel for bullfighters. Narrator Vigoleis is an inventor who doubles as a writer-secretary, and the couple befriends literary figures and Jews, they make enemies of the Nazis, and then the Spanish Civil War erupts, presenting new challenges to their escape plan.<br><BR>Thelen is a wonderfully gifted narrator, with burlesque humor and a delightful cynicism. <i>The Island of Second Sight</i>, often compared to <i>Don Quixote</i>, is a vivacious, furious, and funny book that will enrich and surprise.</div>