ABOUT THE BOOK

After four years in a Barcelona jail, the woman was free to go home, back to the Basque country, to Bilbao. But she had nothing to go back to - her lover was dead, her husband divorced, her family had disowned her, she had no children. Back to nursing? She was burnt out. Back to her comrades in the Organization? No, they thought she had betrayed them. All that she carried with her was a suitcase with a few treasured books, a pack or two of smokes, and memories. But no plans: the horizon was empty, featureless.

On the coach carrying her back to Bilbao she kept herself to herself, with only a few words to the large lady in the next seat, a couple of nuns, and two men, a smooth talker in a red tie and a tough who showed a little too much interest in her. It was as though she had no need to hide from 'them' that she was fresh out of prison, an amnestied terrorist, her reputation compromised.

The lone woman, like the protagonist of Bernardo Atxaga's previous novel 'The Lone Man', is tracked, on the run; but clearly she lives under a quite different star. In the subtle, complex emotions that haunt her she gives the reader a deep insight into the prevailing anxieties of our own day.

Bernardo Atxaga, a Basque, was born in 1951. He published his first work at the age of twenty in an anthology of Basque writers. He has written plays, children's books, radio scripts and novels, including 'Obabakoak', which has been published in fourteen languages including English, and won several prizes. His last novel, 'The Lone Man', was described by Peter Millar in The Times as "a spellbinding, sympathetic odyssey into the mind of a former terrorist".

 

Here are some readers' thoughts on The Lone Woman by Bernardo Axtaga.

"This is a powerful account of one woman's journey from Barcelona to Bilbao.

Frances has served a four-year prison sentence for terrorism but is now free. As she contemplates her past and her future it becomes evident that her years spent in jail which were meant as a punishment were in fact a time of security and friendship. Her new-found freedom promises little. She is a lone woman, her lover has been murdered, her former friends have disowned her, and she is without money or a job. However, she is not without hope. As she arrives in her hometown she sees "the moon between two clouds".

This is a beautifully written piece of work and a compelling read."

(Reviewed by a Member of Raheny Library Readers Group.)

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"The Lone Woman has spent four years in prison in Barcelona. When she is released she decides to return to her home town of Bilbao in the Basque country. The story tells of her panic, anxiety, suspicion of others as she faces the world again. On the bus to Bilbao she discovers that she is being followed by two policemen - one gentle and persuasive, the other tough and abusive. She is befriended by a large lady and two nuns. The nuns sense her distress and invite her to stay with them.

The book is only 120 pages long. Every action is described in detail, which I found tiresome. It may have lost something in translation from Spanish.

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"The 37 year old woman has just left prison after four years incarceration. There was no one to meet her when she came out - disowned by her family and estranged from her husband, her lover was dead and she could not expect support from the Organisation whose members believed that she had betrayed them. She decided to go to Bilbao where she had been born.

After the organised and uncomplicated routine in prison, 'life outside' immediately presented a host of complex decisions - how to get to Bilbao, where to buy the bus ticket, how to interpret the timetable.... Was she being watched? Was she being tracked? Atxaga's exploration and portrayal of the woman's emotions - anxiety, suspicion, fear, anger and others, is masterly.

Waiting for the bus and the subsequent journey gave her time to look back and share with the reader events in her past life and relationships - especially in prison. This is done well and convincingly. Although relatively few pages are devoted to her cellmates, one of them - Margarita - quickly develops into a rounded character.

For me, The Lone Woman (and it is an apt title) started well. I found the early section exciting and full of promise. It read smoothly; for this, the translator must get a share of the credit. I found the writing disciplined - compelling but in no way overwhelming. The author gave me space to reflect on many things: on idealism in its essence and as it sours into cynicism; on the dilemma of the enforcement of law and order; on the justification of specific means to achieve specific ends; on the nature of freedom....

The main protagonists on the bus journey are, on the whole, well drawn, although the police operation (so soon and so openly) stretched credibility somewhat. I enjoyed The Lone Woman, but it did not realise the promise of the opening pages (up to the point when the bus journey started)."

(A member of the Raheny Library Reading Group)