Distant Palaces

In his forst novel since the memorable 'Thine is the Kingdom' Abilio Estevez conjures up the melacholy beauty of contemporary Havana with passion and eloquence in a story about a trio of misfits. Victorio, a lonely, middle-aged homosexual, is about to be evicted from his room in a dilapidated mansion that is soon to be demolished. He quits his job, burns most of his possessions and becomes a vagrant. Wandering the streets of the city, he meets two people who are to change his life- Salma, a young prostitute, who befriends him, and Don Fuco, an elderly eccentric, who lives in a ruined theatre, where Victorio and Salma are invited to live, and who performs as a clown and a musician, bringing majic and exuberance into the pinched lives of his compatriots. Distant Palaces is a novel about human resiliance and joy in the face of crushing odds. It also confirms Abilio Estevez as one ofLatin America's most talented and inventive novelists.