A masterpieceofunusualbeautyby one of Europe's greatest living writersa
brilliant evocation of the Spanish Civil WarOn August 19, 1936 Hercules
the boxer stands on the quayside at Coruna and watches Fascist soldiers
piling up books and setting them alight. With this moment a young,
carefree group of friends are transformed into a broken generation. Out
of this incident during the early months of Spain's tragic civil war,
Manuel Rivas weaves a colorful tapestry of stories and unforgettable
characters to create a panorama of 20th-century Spanish historyfor it is
not only the lives of Hercules the boxer and his friends that are
tainted by the unending conflict, but also those of a young washerwoman
who sees souls in the clouded river water and the stammering son of a
judge who uncovers his father's hidden library. As the singed pages fly
away on the breeze, their stories live on in the minds of their
readers."