Not Only Fire

A Spanish family torn apart by the Civil War. A story of exile, love and loss in Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador and Mexico. A marriage embittered by disappointment, a small boy struck by lightning, and a young woman running headlong into a personal hell. This is the drama of Benjamin Prado's Not Only Fire. Prado introduces us to four generations of an everyday - and yet extraordinary - Spanish family. Grandfather Truman is the son of Republicans purged under Franco; Samuel and Ruth are a married couple, their past full of youthful dreams and promises, who now face a humdrum future; their young daughter Martha is caught in an intense but self-destructive relationship; and their ten-year-old son Maceo is obsessed by the sky, and the stories Truman tells him of travels, secrets and tragedies. Each member of the family is close to the edge - and anything could happen, from forgiveness to murder . . . 'Eighteen-year-old Marta goes to parties where the kids drink and snog to Sonic Youth. This could be England. But her leftist family is scarred by four decades under Franco.' Observer