This notable collection of eleven tales is crossed by the journey of its protagonists to other countries, some forced by exile, others in the search for new economic horizons, or chasing an identity or a place in the world. Despite the fact that the experiences of the characters are everyday, the narrator's skill makes them transcendental. In "Borges," he allows us to witness with surprise and emotion the story of a Chilean literary critic, immersed in melancholy, who travels to Paris to get away from his small, innocuous existence; in "When You Are Twenty-one Years Old," we learn of the difficulties of a Chilean teenager who is inopportunely informed that he must leave his country; in "Ephemeral," we are a witness to the sexual attraction of a stunning photographer from Madrid. They are all fleeting stories, intense in their action, featuring a female lead. Antonio Skármeta (1940) is one of the most-read Chilean authors around the world. With his novels and volumes of stories, he has been renowned among the great modern Latin-American narrators, translated into more than twenty-five languages.
