Publisher's Synopsis
In the 1930s, in an isolated valley of the Pyrenees Mountains, an aging teacher reconstructs a bloody and tragic event that seem destined to remain forever hidden behind a wall of collective silence. He alone can penetrate appearances and grasp the iron laws determining the lives of all those who live in the place-this valley where nature is miserly and leaves little room for poetic contemplation or an excess of feelings. He alone remembers his protégé, Ramon, a shepherd who, no more that a child, fell in love with Alba, the only daughter of the region's most powerful and influential landowner. The rich and powerful conspire to thwart the love between Ramon and Alba, and in doing so they incited a feud that will extend beyond all reason. Thus begins a vigorous, dramatic story of rebellion.
With echoes of timeless fairy tales and Shakespearean tragedy, masterfully told, The Frost on his Shoulders is a moving and captivating account of the power of human emotions, and also an allegorical depiction of Spain on the eve of the Civil War.
