The year is 1978. The author is a boy of fifteen who has just returned from boarding school to his home town of Xinzo de Limia in the province of Ourense, Galicia. This town on the River Limia - identified by Roman soldiers with the mythical River Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness - is famous for two things: its prolonged carnival celebrations, during which affable demons known as
pantallas
patrol the town's streets, banging together inflated pig bladders, and frogs. It is also inhabited by a series of memorable beings who have been "wounded by the wind" (though sometimes their judgement seems to be better than that of normal human beings). The author's grandfather, Mauro, records this cast of unusual characters in his notebook and shares his impressions with the writer Carlos Casares, who gifts the boy, a budding narrator, his book of short stories
Wounded Wind
. The author has fallen madly in love with Gabriela. They have declared their love for each other, and this makes it especially important that he get back to the town where he is from. He has remained faithful to her over three long months. The book will introduce the reader to some of the more colourful figures in Xinzo - Marcelino who boards coaches and reads outdated news items about Hitler; Demetrio who plants a tree for each newborn child; Tiroliro ("Skirl") who assiduously picks up cigarette ends from under the café tables - and will document the author's own passage from the scarcity of innocence to the rewards of knowledge. Reading will set you free.
Antón Riveiro Coello
is one of Galicia's most prolific writers, winner of the prestigious García Barros Award for his novel
Bakunin's Turtledoves
. His work is closely linked to his home town of Xinzo de Limia in the south of Galicia.