In a Spanish coastal town, the narrator and his brothers take a look in at adult life at the end of the 60s. Caught between the playroom and an enigmatic future they still do not know the limits between fantasy and reality.
On one hand, they believe in the Duende - an unknown being that is able to transform things; and on the other, they come across a motley crew of flesh and blood characters. They will grow up like that is a paradise populated by opposing figures: Lali, a judgemental teacher, Sergeant Arruza, the living image of danger, the God of Rodeo, circus tamer, as well as Captain Roden, Miguel the film maker...
Made up of snippets of memories, the narrator of this novel picks out the moments in which he enjoyed the fragile property of paradise, the moments of an apparently innocent and happy childhood, but one full of uncertainty.
«We are looking at a beautiful collage of childhood memories where the poetical talent of the author submits to the lost scenes of yesterday. (...) An album, in short, of figures that disappear and emerge from the mist like ghost ships from which only a stained melancholic echo reaches us». Miguel Dalmau, Qué Leer
«The narrative procedure used by the author in this novel denotes a lucidity that in its serenity is almost at odds with the wild disorder that it could represent for such a young writer. Felipe Benítez has written a book that is, for several reasons, delicious, ostensibly allied to genius, a polished example of careful, severe and at the same time funny narrative». J.M. Caballero Bonald
