Peter Owen World Series: Spain

When Samuel receives a call out of the blue about the death of his lover, Clara, his own numbing existence seems about to come to an end. Does it matter that he never knew Clara? And, if he invents a past for his love and his loss, could he even fake his way through her funeral? Unable to pass up the chance at a new life, Samuel starts down a path of lies until he can no longer distinguish between real and invented.

Having lost the Civil War in Spain, four republican rebels lead a fugitive existence deep in the Cantabrian mountains. Wounded and hungry the rebels are frequently drawn from the safety of the mountains into the villages they once inhabited, risking their lives and the lives of anyone helping them. Faced with the lonely mountains, its harsh winters and unforgiving summers, it is only a matter of time before the Fascists hunt them down. Llamazares's lyrical prose serves to animate the wilderness, making the landscape as much a witness to the brutality of the Franco regime as the persecuted villagers and republicans.