Walking the Lions by
Stephen Burgen
pbk out April 03
(Constable Robinson)
at £6.99
New Yorker Alex Nadal inherits his aunt’s farm near Barcelona. The gist is more than a little unexpected: Alex had always been told that his aunt died years before, at the end of the Spanish Civil War.
From the moment Alex arrives it is clear that this is not the prodigal’s return. Alex is not welcome, and people want him out of the way, preferably out of the country.
Threats. Obstacles and bureaucratic stone-walling face him at every turn. But Alex is obstinate and, with the help of irreverent, intelligent Carmen, a journalist form Barcelona, he sets out to discover who wants him off the farm and why his father had lied to him about his aunt. The truth lies tangled in the past horrors of the Civil War and reaches up to the most powerful figures who rule the roost in the modern city and the Catalan community.
First novel from Burgen, who captures the vibrancy, tensions and flavours of the Spanish city while giving us a well written and intriguing mystery, and a pleasing love story.
Manchester Evening News 3.8.02
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries set on the mean streets of Manchester)
