A Manuscript of Ashes:
Antonio Munoz Molina

There's something hypnotic about the long, languid sentences that make up this book and that force the reader to pay attention to every nuance and every metaphor because within the serpentine alleys of the writer's prose lurk all kinds of mysteries and clues, which may or may not be true.

The book is set in Franco-era Spain and tells the story of a young university student, Minaya, who retreats to his uncle Manuel's mansion in an ancient city called Magina to write the biography of Jacinto Solana, a neglected poet the old man once knew. He quickly finds himself delving into a curious love triangle, while falling under the spell of a mysterious serving girl who works in the mansion.

The book darts back and forth in time from the years before the war to the the war itself to its bitter aftermath, sometimes changing time within the same paragraph. The effect is to produce a dreamlike narrative where nothing is quite what is seems and nobody can be trusted.

The cast of characters also includes a pro-fascist sculptor who mass produces saints, the bitter old Dona of the household, a gay artist, Solana's stern father, a proud peasant farmer, his Communist lover and other assorted types. I wish I knew more about the Civil War because I take this book partly as an allegory about the fate of Spain during those tragic years. Clearly the author has no sympathies with the fascists but he is equally stern about the Republicans. In one scene, a suspected Falangist spy is lynched in the town's main square. The message seems to be that whereas the right was bathed in butchery, the left also suffered a grievous moral failing.

Minaya uncovers a startling secret and the story becomes a weird mystery story. How exactly did the beautiful, yet elusive Mariana die on her wedding night?

The answer is surprising -- and yet the plot and its resolution is secondary. Days after I finished this book, its peculiar beauty stayed with me, a little like Spain itself -- fascinating, languid and with a dark edge of violence.