.

On a sweltering hot August day in Málaga, dawn breaks over a patch of waste ground and a man lying close to death. From this vivid encounter, a kaleidoscopic narrative unfolds over a single day, as the suffocating terral wind spreads its malign influence over the city. We meet the dying man’s family, his doctor wife and entitled son; a picture framer and his alcoholic brother; their mother and her entrepreneur boyfriend; the framer’s colleague and his wife who has given all their savings to the local priest; drug dealers and addicts, itinerant musicians and petrol station workers – their lives all interwoven in a richly layered tapestry of contemporary Spain.

A monumental achievement by one of Spain’s greatest living writers, SUR asks powerful questions about the hope and futility of daily life and the manifestation of our desire, exploring the countless stories we intersect with every day.

Antonio Soler was born in Málaga in 1956. He launched his writing career in 1992 with the publication of a collection of short stories and a novella and has since published fourteen novels, many of them award-winning. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. SUR is his first novel to be published in English.

Translated by Simon Deefholts and Kathryn Phillips-Miles

Support for the translation of this novel was provided by: