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All That Followed
- Author
- Gabriel Urza
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 4 August 2015
- Run Time
- 8 hours 14 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
A psychologically twisting novel about a politically charged act of violence that echoes through a small Spanish town; a dazzling debut in the tradition of Daniel Alarcón and Mohsin Hamid
It’s 2004 in Muriga, a quiet town in Spain’s northern Basque Country, a place with more secrets than inhabitants. Five years have passed since the kidnapping and murder of a young local politician—a family man and father—and the town’s rhythms have almost returned to normal. But in the aftermath of the Atocha train bombings in Madrid, an act of terrorism that rocked the nation and the world, the townspeople want a reckoning of Muriga’s own troubled past: everyone knows who pulled the trigger five years ago, but is the young man now behind bars the only one to blame?
All That Followed peels away the layers of a crime complicated by history, love, and betrayal. The accounts of three townspeople in particular—the councilman’s beautiful young widow, the teenage radical now in jail for the crime, and an aging American teacher hiding a traumatic past of his own—hold the key to what really happened. And for these three, it’s finally time to confront what they can find of the truth.
Inspired by a true story, All That Followed is a powerful, multifaceted novel about a nefarious kind of violence that can take hold when we least expect. Urgent, elegant, and gorgeously atmospheric, Urza’s debut is a book for the world we live in now, and it marks the arrival of a brilliant new writer to watch.
Critics Review
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“All That Followed is a rarity in fiction: a thriller with an ending that’s essentially revealed at the beginning. But this isn’t the kind of novel that depends on a plot twist or a shock ending to work; the reader is drawn in not because we want to find out what happened, but why it happened. And Urza’s writing is so strong — both tough and lyrical, unsparing and beautiful — that it’s difficult to tear yourself away.”
NPR
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“More than just a mystery story…It’s a meditation on how time and place dictate our deepest loyalties and cause us to do unimaginable things.”
Men’s Journal
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“Set in the foothills of the Pyrenees, Urza’s debut novel is as subtle and enveloping as the txirimiri, a Basque word for ‘rain so fine that an umbrella is useless against it.’”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“A terrorist bombing in Madrid stirs up memories in a Basque town of a politician kidnapped and killed, an act that linked the political and the personal, in this thoughtful, ambitious debut…The author’s family is from Spain’s Basque region, which helps explain why an American writer would venture into this fraught history, and Urza does so convincingly, revealing the human faces behind the masks of terrorism and its collateral damage.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“A well-told story of the Basque region, whose violent past is familiar to many. Here, however, the reader is immersed in the landscape’s color, language, and culture while reading an absorbing political mystery.”
Library Journal
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“An intimate perspective on how communities ripped apart by ill-conceived acts of violence can be slowly stitched back together and given a second life. This thoughtful novel will draw some literary-thriller readers, but its real strength is what it contributes to the modern-day conversation on terrorist extremism, particularly as it pertains to how youth from small, long-oppressed towns can get pulled into the fray.”
Booklist
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“A gorgeously gripping tale of secrecy, violence, and the burden of history, Gabriel Urza’s All That Followed is a thrilling debut from a distinctive and powerful new voice. Atmospheric, wise, and deliciously complex, this novel is as spellbinding as they come.”
Laura van den Berg, author of Find Me
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“Gabriel Urza’s All That Followed is one of those rare works of fiction that peels back the surface layers of the politicized world we live in to show us the remarkable, rich lives behind the headlines. This is an eloquent and beautifully imagined work of literature, haunting, elegiac, and utterly compelling to the very end.”
Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names and The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
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“A ballsy, dazzling debut novel unlike anything you’ve ever read. Written in beautiful lean vignettes, this is at once a literary big ideas book about a nation, a people, and also highly addictive—I finished it in a day. Self-assured, bold, and allergic to trends, Gabriel Urza is an absolute original.”
Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Battleborn
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“Urza develops mysteries by subtly shifting their terms…The satisfaction of this story line derives not from the anticipation of these events, but from their unanticipated consequences.”
New York Times Book Review
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Gabriel Urza
- Narrator
- Kyla Garcia, Thom Rivera, Armando Durán
- Duration
- 8 hours 14 minutes
- Release Date
- 4 August 2015
- ISBN
- 9781504655354
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Fiction: general and literary, Fiction: general and literary, Thriller / suspense fiction
Synopsis
A psychologically twisting novel about a politically charged act of violence that echoes through a small Spanish town; a dazzling debut in the tradition of Daniel Alarcón and Mohsin HamidIt’s 2004 in Muriga, a quiet town in Spain’s northern Basque Country, a place with more secrets than inhabitants. Five years have passed since the kidnapping and murder of a young local politician—a family man and father—and the town’s rhythms have almost returned to normal. But in the aftermath of the Atocha train bombings in Madrid, an act of terrorism that rocked the nation and the world, the townspeople want a reckoning of Muriga’s own troubled past: everyone knows who pulled the trigger five years ago, but is the young man now behind bars the only one to blame?All That Followed peels away the layers of a crime complicated by history, love, and betrayal. The accounts of three townspeople in particular—the councilman’s beautiful young widow, the teenage radical now in jail for the crime, and an aging American teacher hiding a traumatic past of his own—hold the key to what really happened. And for these three, it’s finally time to confront what they can find of the truth.Inspired by a true story, All That Followed is a powerful, multifaceted novel about a nefarious kind of violence that can take hold when we least expect. Urgent, elegant, and gorgeously atmospheric, Urza’s debut is a book for the world we live in now, and it marks the arrival of a brilliant new writer to watch.
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