Els nois

US / Two Lines Press

Working in conjunction with L´Altra Editorial

«A compelling existential mystery . . . a sort of Catalan answer to Russell Banks' ‘The Sweet Hereafter’, with a closing as haunting as a tale by Poe. Altogether brilliant.»
Kirkus *starred review*

«A master of meditation, and the excitement and intrigue are never sacrificed despite digressive passages. One hopes this tremendous novel, already an award-winner overseas, will receive the attention it deserves here.»
Publishers Weekly *starred review*

«Toni Sala creates an exercise in style that meditates on our most primal identity.»
Time Out

«A masterpiece.»
Ara

«During the last fifteen years, Catalan literature has produced few voices of such strength.»
La Vanguardia

>4th reprint

An ambitious dark tale about a small town shaken by the death of two young boys in a car accident.

The once-bucolic Catalonian village of Vidreres has been ravaged by a harsh recession, and now two of its young men have died in a horrible car crash. As the town attends the funeral, a banker named Ernest heads to the tree where they died, trying to make sense of the tragedy. There he meets a brutish trucker, who in between Internet hookups and trips to prostitutes has taken a liking to Iona, the fiancée of one of the dead boys. Iona might be just what he needs to fix his tawdry life, but she’s mixed up with an artist who makes frightening projects.

Masterfully conjuring the voices of each of these four characters, Toni Sala entwines their lives and their feelings of guilt, fear, and rage over an unspeakable loss.

Long known as one of Spain’s most powerful authors, Toni Sala is at his mischievous best here, delivering a sinister, fast-moving tale laced with intricate meditations on everything from social networks to Spain’s economic collapse to the mysterious end that awaits us all. Els nois is a startlingly honest vision of the things we’ll do in order to feel a little less alone in this world.