Safe Return Doubtful

(translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary)

Its a hot August in 1592 in Úbeda in Andalucia as a bailiff and two recruited civil servants, Ferran and Diego, arrive at a monastery for a secret mission, to transfer the body of Saint John of the Cross, Fray Juan de la Cruz, the great Carmelite poet and mystic, who had died the previous year, to his final resting place in Segovia.

Surprisingly, this is a story based heavily on actual events.

The three bungling thieves must travel only under the cloak of darkness, and in a fast-paced narrative, brief respites given only by the characters’ repartee, encounter devils, ghouls, drunks and debauchery in what in effect could be termed either a road-trip, or a heist novel.

On exhumation of the poet’s body, they find a body unblemished and as fresh as when he died, with blood still flowing. The aroma captivates anyone close enough to get a whiff.

Above all, this is a bawdy slapstick comedy, enhanced greatly by the characters of Ferran and Diego.
The chapters are short, and the action is rapid, leaving the reader wanting more by way of explanation, but as much as that is a criticism, it is a strength, because the reader is in the same boat as Ferran and Diego; still trying to grasp what just happened.

Its Python-esque, but brought up to date, and behind all the riotous vulgarity, it is a witty commentary on the verse of one of Spain’s most important poets.

Published – August 2023, My GoodReads score 4 / 5