"This work deserves the highest recognition . . . no-one can deny Juan Goytisolo is the main Spanish novelist on active service."--Carlos Fuentes "A beautifully written metaphor for what it means to seek out the truth in a world often dominated by lies . . . this author, now 70 years of age, is one of the most brilliant of living writers."--The Los Angeles Times Twenty-eight storytellers--one for each letter in the Arabic alphabet--meet in a garden to tell the story of a poet, Eusebio, arrested in the early days of the Spanish Civil War. Eusebio, a friend of Garc#65533;a Lorca and his circle, had escaped assassination and fled to North Africa. Born in Barcelona, Juan Goytisolo left Spain in hatred of Franco. He now lives in Marrakesh, Morocco.