SMOKE
JOSÉ OVEJERO
A post-apocalyptic story possessing a rawness and sensitivity comparable to Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
A woman and a child survive in a secluded cabin in the woods. He is not her son and they hardly know each other. If she has taken him in, it is because neither of them has anyone else. The world has become an appallingly hostile place and any visit can carry a threat, whether it be a mother begging for food for her sick children or a stranger posing as an ally. Whether to trust other people or not has become a matter of life and death.
Smoke is a moving, powerful tale about the struggle for survival in a crumbling world, where nature offers the only refuge to survive the death throes of civilization.
Published in Spain: Galaxia Gutenberg, 2021
José Ovejero (Madrid, Spain, 1958) has written novels, short stories, essays, plays and poems, and regularly contributes to Spanish and Latin American magazines and newspapers. He has lectured and taught writing courses at universities in several European and Latin American countries. He was awarded the Anagrama prize for his essay La ética de la crueldad and the Alfaguara prize for his novel La invención del amor. His work has been translated into several languages.