August, October

Fourteen-year-old Tomás goes with his well-off family on their usual seaside summer holiday, but he is at a stage in his life when nothing is the same. Sullenly detached from them, full of confused intimations of sexuality, he is also faced with death when his widowed aunt, who lives in the resort, is taken seriously ill. As he becomes close to her on her deathbed he frequents the forbidden in the form of some lower-class village kidscasually transgressive boys and even more alien, sexually knowing girlsthat will get him involved on the last day in a gang rape of a vulnerable girl. Though when it is his turn, Tomás only pretends to do itenough to save face with the boys. Back in Madrid, he wrestles with guilt and confusion. He finally decides to go back secretly, alone, to find the girl and apologize for what happened, but despite the moving scene of atonement and forgiveness, ambiguity lurks even in this redemption.

Andrés Barba is a multi-awarded Spanish novelist, essayist, translator, scriptwriter and photographer. He is the author of a total of thirteen books of literary fiction, non-fiction, photography, arts, and children's literature.