SÁLVORA. DIARIO DE UN FARERO

One foggy morning in 1980, Julio Vilches disembarked on the Galician island of Sálvora, located in the mouth of the Arousa River, ready to start his stint as the lighthouse keeper. What awaited him was a rundown lighthouse, two square kilometres of beaches and virgin forest, wild horses, the cries of seagulls and his new "neighbours": Andrés, a dangerous accordion-playing assistant and El Algarrobo, with his ancient carbine. For Julio, Sálvora would be a piece of free earth on which to celebrate life along with a rotating and colourful community of animal, friends, lovers, survivors of shipwrecks and marine globetrotters. With uncommon freshness and not a small ration of drama and humour, this book offers a first-persoon narrative of the tasks of the lighthouse keeper and the development of a profession that is one of the most beautiful (and risky) in the world.