Book description
Irene is 37 years old and just out of prison after serving time for
terrorist activities. Deciding to return home to Bilbao, she takes a bus
journey across Spain, striking up conversations with the passengers who
include two plainclothes policemen. As the journey progresses, so the
tension builds.
Bernardo Atxaga, a Basque, was born in 1951. He published his first
work at the age of twenty in an anthology of Basque writers. He has
written plays, children's books, radio scripts and novels, including
Obabakoak, which has been published in fourteen languages
including English, and won several prizes. His last novel, The Lone
Man, was described by Peter Millar in The Times as "a
spellbinding, sympathetic odyssey into the mind of a former terrorist".
Margaret Jull Costa translated Obabakoak and The Lone Man.
She is also translator of works by Javier MarÃas (including A
Heart so White which won the Dublin International Impac Award),
Carmen MartÃn Gaite and Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Her translation of
Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet made her joint-winner of
the Portuguese translation prize.
