| Synopsis: |
'It was the month of May, or the month of June, in any case summer was near, and within only a few weeks the war would break out...' On the cusp of the Spanish Civil War in a coastal village in the Basque country, three men stop off at Extarri's bar on their way to the wedding of Captain Herraiz to Isabel Cruces. One of the men suffers a stroke in the latrine, and this bizarre and undignified event, seemingly so incidental, marks the beginning of a powerful story about two women whose bond - and whose secret - will endure even in death. Abandoned by her parents shortly after the outbreak of war, sixteen-year-old Maria Antonia Extarri is left at the mercy of the soldiers taking up residence in the bar - and she is raped. Isabel, meanwhile, enjoys a blissful honeymoon with her Captain in Biarritz, but just months later, the valiant Herraiz is shot as a traitor. Both Maria and Isabel suddenly find themselves violently altered, alone, and pregnant. A crippled young doctor, Castro, is the only witness to the mysterious and silent agreement these two women form in the loneliness and desperation of their mutual suffering.Creepy and compelling, "The Wrong Blood" is an hypnotic read from a master storyteller. |