Political, tough and full of wit and heart: a story about survival and the search for happiness against all odds
Molossia, a totalitarian state at the edge of Europe, is sinking into chaos. In the middle of it: a young athlete who learns not to give up even when there doesn’t seem to be anything left to gain. Tijan Sila’s second novel is a bitter-comical parable about the power and powerlessness of the individual in an amoral system in which everyone must take on guilt in order to survive.
Times are dark when 16-year-old Ambrosio – who will go on to become a bike-racing legend nicknamed the “Golden One” – begins his career. His country, marked by decades of total isolation, is firmly in the hands of the Spiroistic party, which is using increasingly brutal methods to fight the rebelling youth gangs and Spiroistic factions. Ambrosio – who already has enough going on having his first sexual experiences with his girlfriend Betty and dreaming about competitions abroad – is questioned and beaten up by the regime’s henchmen. All because he discovered a new hobby: playing pinball machines. From one day to the next, the machines are deemed contrary to the national ethos and banned. When his trainer flees and the sports boarding school where he resides becomes populated by gymnasts and ballet dancers loyal to the party line, he finds himself increasingly under pressure.
A story as only Tijan Sila can tell it: profound, touching and brimming with humor and literary power.
