The Box of Resentments

Estevo is a young man for whom things are not going too badly. In his university entrance exam, he got an average of over 10 (however that may be possible), which means he should be able to enrol for the course of his choice, Science of Culture. He lives with his parents in a desirable housing development called 'Weeping Willow' on the outskirts of the coastal town of Valdomar. His father is an eye doctor at the local hospital, 'Our Lady of the Forsaken', his mother is a teacher, and he has a girlfriend called Paula. Everything seems to be going swimmingly, and yet a few months earlier, in March, while driving his moped, he knocked over an old lady by the name of Mercedes Alemparte - Chiruca to her friends - on a clearly marked zebra crossing in the centre of town, as a result of which the lady broke her hip. The judge, a progressive judge who likes to give exemplary sentences, decides he will have to visit Chiruca two times a week during the month of July to keep her company and to help with any housework. She hopes this will have a positive impact on Estevo and enable him to reflect on his actions. Out of these meetings, a strong friendship will blossom - a friendship that bridges generations and leads to Estevo and Paula getting involved in a family history they knew nothing about. Estevo and Paula will embark on a wild-goose chase that will take them to the local cemetery, the undertaker's, an old people's home near Coruña, and mean, just as the judge intended, that Estevo's last summer as a free agent before the rigours of adulthood set in isn't idly frittered away. Héctor Cajaraville is a writer, journalist and secondary-school teacher whose work has obtained important literary prizes in Galicia, including the Merlin for children's literature and the Xerais for novels. The Box of Resentments was awarded the Queen Lupa Prize for Young People's Literature in 2015.