All the Wild Ones (Alla vilda)

Birgitta Stenberg

Europe wakes up from the nightmare that has cost so many lives. National debts are being repaid and new bonds of friendship are formed. Young Birgitta lives a wild, carefree life. Mallorca becomes a mirror of the paradise lost; with the same backdrop where Chopin and George Sand lived their love-story, Birgitta meets the world, literature and friendship. In La Pedraza you drink wine and make love, write poems and chase rainbows. Robert Graves holds court and young prospective writers hold their breaths; the master's shadow obscures everything. Into this setting arrive the handsome Chuck, his lover Jack and his young wife.

Passion and jealousy, tears and laughter - these young searchers who want to forget the war seem to have the world at their feet. But post-war Spain shows no one mercy, the powerful Guardia Civil spies on everyone and the citizens of Mallorca view these extravagant, upper class travellers with a mixture of sympathy and horror. These events occur long before the arrival of mass tourism on Mallorca. English is still an exotic language on the island and the Germans are still a conquered people with a debt to pay. Birgitta's mother comes for a visit and reality must be faced. There is room for a great deal of comedy and joy is this book that challenges all definitions.

 

192 pages

 

Righs sold

Sweden: Norstedts, Månpocket (paper back), Talande Böcker (audio book)
Turkey: Noktakitap