Land of smoke

"An old man lives alone. His garden is the envy of all his neighbours. But one morning he wakes up to find that his garden is floating away, with him on board, and his supplies won't last. As the water runs out and the delirium takes over, the desperation of solitude begins to overwhelm him. Fluent, narrated with warm immediacy, these stunning stories by Sara Gallardo astonish, overwhelm and illuminate. Deeply real, they are also shot through with the supernatural. Every muscular, musical story reveals the way that the habits of everyday life can become unknowable and unpredictable. Recently rediscovered, Sara Gallardo is a major Latin American writer whose stories recall the masters of magical realism - but maintain a domestic, whimsical atmosphere all of their own.