Chao

Chao is a Galician who, like so many others but in a different way, emigrated to Uruguay and then returned to Spain during the 1970s and lived in Madrid all the events that marked the history of the last century. In the residence where our protagonist spends his last days, he will meet Carmen, a worker who will be driven to investigate his past in search of secrets. What defines us more, our actions or our conscience? What does it say more about us: what we were or what we would have liked to be? To what extent is it possible to modify the past? Mario Alonso's new novel is a beautiful investigation on identity and repentance, on the search for forgiveness and how this triggers a process of contrition and transformation. In the present fable, old age is conceived as the time of definitive reflection, balance and, perhaps, rectification. A meditation on the ultimate meaning of life before it's too late. With a style as direct as it is lyrical, the author manages to weave a story that he captures from its first pages and where the reader will feel puzzled until the surprising final revelation.