Last days in Tripoli
by Mario Garces
The true story of some Spaniards abandoned to their fate in North Africa and a woman who made freedom her way of life
Tripoli at the beginning of the 19th century is a forgotten and remote place in the eyes of the Spanish court. Among the fifteen thousand souls that live in the city, a group of Spaniards strive to survive, wrapped in the nostalgia of an irrecoverable past and the uncertainty of a hopeless future. In this scenario of abandonment, the fate of these men hardly has any value. But, among them, there is a woman, Irene de Souza, daughter of the Spanish consul, who rebels not only against social prejudices, but against the conventions of being a woman. Irene de Souza builds her own identity based on her dreams of freeing herself from a suffocating society, in an imperfect balance that will lead her to traumatically break with the life that others try to impose on her. A character who will make her feelings prevail over her duties and obligations, knowing that this conquest could have a fateful end.
On the borders of a world that moves between violence and revenge, Irene becomes, even for the Spaniards themselves, a real problem. Freedom is confused with immorality and the culmination of her desires will have a cost that she will be willing to pay even with her own life. Mario Garcés builds, through a lyrical and prodigious narrative, a story in which the characters make up a labyrinth through which life and death pass randomly. “Last Days in Tripoli” stands as a literary monument to a unique woman, whose existence is a testimony of honesty and audacity. A resounding and fascinating novel that explores the limits of a woman willing to break the taboos and restrictions of a society to which she does not belong.
Mario Garcés is a writer, jurist, academic, actor, film producer and politician. In his political career, he has held different relevant positions such as Minister of Finance and Public Administrations of the Government of Aragon (2011), Undersecretary of Public Works (2012-2016) and Secretary of State for Social Services and Equality (2016-2018). He is currently a Deputy for Huesca and Deputy Spokesman of the Popular Parliamentary Group in the Congress of Deputies. He began in literature with Tales from the Plane, (Ediciones Mira, 2013), to become known to the general public with Extraordinary Episodes of the History of Spain (Ediciones B, 2015). Later he would publish Confidencias (Editorial Reino de Cordelia, 2017), El Antipríncipe (Editorial Reino de Cordelia, 2017) and Stories from Spain that no one had told you (Editorial Almuzara, 2018). His last solo work was The Spanish Footprint on Route 66 (Pinolia, 2021). He has also participated in collective story books with authors such as Lorenzo Silva, Zoé Valdés or Antonio Colinas.
Source: https://algunoslibrosbuenos.com/ultimos-dias-en-tripoli
