Distant Palaces

(Paperback)

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Description

'Havana's ravishing decay has never been more beautifully rendered. This is a strange and wonderfully dreamy book' - Sunday Telegraph Abilio Estevez conjures up the melancholy beauty of contemporary Havana with passion and eloquence in this story about a trio of misfits. When Victorio learns that his home is about to be demolished he leaves his job, burns his possessions and takes to the streets. Wandering the city, he meets two people who change his life- Salma, a young prostitute, and Don Fuco, an enigmatic old man who performs as a clown. In the ruins of an old theatre, Don Fuco initiates his new friends into the secrets of poetry and theatre, bringing beauty, magic and exuberance into the pinched lives of Havana's citizens. Distant Palaces is a novel about human resilience and joy in the face of crushing odds. It confirms Abilio Estevez as one of Latin America's most talented and inventive novelists.

Reviews

Estvez never falters in this story of the dogged pursuit of happiness in a city loved and hated in equal measure by its inhabitants * Metro *
Possibly the most outstanding novel that Latin American literature has produced since the Sixties * Abc *
A novel that defends beauty as the soul of reason, dignity and happiness * El Pais *
An exuberant novel... the lost dreams of a battered, once beautiful city have a tangible presence * Financial Times *

Author Bio

Abilio Estevez was born in Havana in 1954 and lives in Spain. He is the author of plays, a collection of poems and a volume of short stories. His previous novel, Thine Is the Kingdom, has been translated into twelve languages and was published by Harvill.