He made his literary debut in 1958 with the novel "Encerrados con un solo juguete" but had his breakthrough in 1965 with the novel "Últimas tardes con Teresa".

The novel, whose Swedish title is "The Last Evenings with Teresa", is together with "The Golden Girl" in 1978 one of the two novels by the author that have been translated into Swedish.

In 2008, Marsé was awarded the prestigious Cervantes Prize of SEK 1.3 million - a literary prize awarded annually to an author who writes in Spanish.