In these novellas Adelaida Garcia Morales explores sensitive territory, and her narrators observe it with the adolescent's amoral clarity. In 'The South', Adriana's sad, enigmatic father presents her with his own suicide on her fifteenth birthday. She embarks on a cathartic journey from the harsh north to the mysterious south in search of the father she loved and admired, and gradually comes to terms with her loss. Continuing the theme of absent fathers, 'Bene' is the story of a servant in a remote country house who takes over following the departure of her master. Scarred by an ambigious relationship with her father, Bene comes to dominate the lives of the narrator and the son of the house, to chilling effect. Good and evil, innocence and corruption mingle in these timeless stories, in a Spain where the supernatural has not lost any of its power.

Translated by: Sarah Marsh