Twenty years and a day

Translated from Spanish by Serge Mestre.

"Almost autobiographical, like most of Jorge Semprun's books, the action of Vingt ans et un jour takes place in 1956, shortly after the major student demonstrations against the Franco regime. The title Vingt ans et un jour (Twenty Years and One Day) represents the sentence that Francoist justice reserved for political leaders of the clandestine opposition. Jorge Semprun paints a portrait of a country still traumatized by the terrible civil war that left a lasting mark, but which also likes to think about the future and possible reconciliation. Stories and anecdotes intertwine and tangle - as often with Semprun - around a surprising central story, both romantic and theatrical, where appearances can be deceiving, especially with a narrator who "advances masked." It is the summer of 1956 in Spain, and a North American historian named Michael Leidson arrives in the country to conduct research on the civil war. This offers nothing particularly original, but not everything will go as planned. To his great surprise, this man with his outsider's perspective, even though he speaks the country's language well, will find himself caught up in very strange events. At La Maestranza, a large estate in the region, he naively thought he was attending a twenty-year-old ritual: since 1936, the year that marked the assassination of the young man who was to inherit this rich domain by peasants, this prominent family has re-enacted the scenes of his death every year. But this time, this kind of expiatory ceremony does not unfold as usual: Michael Leidson will witness the burial of one of the victim's killers, and what's more, one of his best childhood friends."

ORIGINAL EDITION on editorial paper.