Europe Express (216 pages), published in 2015, is a novel about seven teenagers who go interrailing after secondary school and was awarded the prestigious Jules Verne Prize for young adult fiction.

The novel is divided into three sections. The first section is called ‘Without Notification of Receipt’. In chapter 1, Nico is a computer programmer on a business trip to Bergen in Norway. He is in the habit of buying postcards of the places he visits and buys one of the quays. The photograph was taken ten years before, and to his great surprise he discovers that he and the six friends he went interrailing with are in it, since they visited Bergen on their trip. Using a magnifying glass, he spots Óscar in his Deportivo football shirt, Bea in her long, green skirt, Mía in shorts, studying a map, Piero with his slicked-back hair, but he can’t find his best friend, Xacobe, or his partner, Aroa, until he discovers them in the background, kissing one another. He determines to find out what happened.

In chapter 2, we go back ten years to the time of their trip. It is 1 August, and the teenagers are visiting Stockholm. Xacobe shows Nico a Swedish twenty-crown note, on the back of which is a flock of geese, one of which carries the small figure of Nils Holgersson. Xacobe explains that the image comes from a book by Selma Lagerlöf, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, in which a boy, Nils, is turned into a goblin and carried on the back of a domestic goose to join a flock of wild geese as they travel over Sweden. Xacobe feels that the flock represents them, the seven teenagers, desiring to spread their wings and claim their freedom. Meanwhile, the other members of the group set off towards a palace. Piero is an Italian from Venice who has been on an exchange at the others’ school in Coruña for the past year. He is enamoured of the grey-eyed Aroa. Nico himself feels a tenderness towards her, but Xacobe has no interest in girls, or so Nico thinks.

In chapter 3, we revert to the present. Mía is having her nails done at a beauty parlour. She is a model with a high opinion of herself, married to a tall, blond car executive and living in Madrid. She receives a call from Nico about a possible reunion. They arrange to have lunch. Mía remembers Xacobe, the first boy she fell in love with, but he wouldn’t pay her any attention. She is surprised when Nico suggests there may have been something between Xacobe and Aroa. Nico explains he and Aroa met again three years earlier at Prague Airport and are now together. Aroa works as a researcher for a German-Galician group of laboratories. In chapter 4, ten years earlier, it is 5 August, and the friends are in the Norwegian port of Stavanger. Again, Xacobe is struck by something – a yacht called Europa – and imagines what it would be like to sail the seas with complete freedom. Only Aroa seems to understand him and suggests she would follow the migratory paths of birds. Mía is hung up on Xacobe, his mysterious air; Piero suggests there are some things in life that can’t be bought, and it’s important to be oneself.

In chapter 5, in the present, Piero lives in Venice with his wife, Loretta. They have taken charge of the family restaurant and are about to go on holiday. Piero receives a call from Nico, who needs to unburden himself and sends Piero the postcard so he can have a look. There is no doubt that Xacobe and Aroa are kissing one another. Piero feels sorry for Nico, who suffered more than most over the death of Xacobe the month after their interrailing trip. In chapter 6, it is 6 August, and the friends visit the cliff of Preikestolen in Norway. Xacobe is struck by its beauty in contrast to their human frailty and has the impression that complete and utter happiness could be possible. In chapter 7, Óscar is a car mechanic in Santiago. He likes to get his hands dirty, to watch football and chase girls. Nico comes to tell him about the school reunion and to ask about Xacobe. Óscar explains that, when they went out at night, Xacobe could get any girl he liked, but was sad about one particular relationship, which he didn’t want to talk about. In chapter 8, it is 9 August, and the friends are in Odense, the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. Xacobe is struck by the figure of this author and remembers the stories he wrote, which his mother read to him as a child. He feels a pang in his heart, and Aroa comes to console him.

In chapter 9, Bea is a psychologist specializing in the treatment of teenagers. She is divorced and has a three-year-old daughter. Bea knew about Xacobe and Aroa’s secret relationship, but Aroa has asked her not to tell Nico. When Nico arranges to meet, she keeps quiet and limits herself to confirming the official version of Xacobe’s death: an overdose of digoxin owing to a heart condition. Nico isn’t convinced and wonders why Xacobe didn’t call for help when he began to feel unwell. In chapter 10, it is 10 August, and the friends are in Copenhagen. Nico and Xacobe visit the commune Christiania, but what Nico really wants is to spend the day with Aroa. He is happy when they catch up with Aroa by the statue of The Little Mermaid; Xacobe, who feels isolated, unsure what he wants, is also cheered by Aroa’s pleasant laugh. In chapter 11, Aroa attends her beehives and remembers how, as children, she and Xacobe, whose parents were divorced, spent most of their time together, but at school he was distant, at home intimate, and how they planned to go interrailing together, inviting the others along as cover, so no one would suspect their relationship. She wishes she had met Nico first, not Xacobe, he is so kind and attentive. Above all, she doesn’t want him to find out about her and Xacobe. In chapter 12, it is 13 August, and the friends are in Berlin. Aroa tells Nico about her love for bees and invites him to visit her beehives. She feels it is time there was someone else in her life aside from Xacobe.

The second section is called ‘Postal Order’. In chapter 13, everyone has gathered at Nico and Aroa’s house for the reunion: Mía with her friend Annie; Piero with his wife, Loretta; Bea with her new partner, Antón; Óscar with his sister, Marta, and a work colleague, Mario. There is a happy atmosphere, but Aroa appears distant. Nico wishes they could talk about Xacobe, but Aroa brushes him off. In chapter 14, Nico shows Mía the postcard from Bergen, and Mía tells him about her last meeting with Xacobe, when he appeared to say goodbye and gave her a kiss on the cheek, something he never normally did. In chapter 15, Nico shows the postcard to Óscar, and Óscar describes his final meeting with Xacobe, saying how he was depressed and began to tell Óscar about his mother’s new family. After his parents’ divorce, they had only ever spoken once. Óscar, meanwhile, is enamoured of Annie. In chapter 16, the party is over, and Piero is helping Nico to clear up the kitchen. Bea and her new boyfriend, Antón, are arguing outside. Piero explains his final meeting with Xacobe – in Venice, while interrailing, when Xacobe said one should never return to the places where one has been happy. He also thinks that Xacobe was far too intelligent to have miscalculated his dose of digoxin.

The third section is called ‘Postage at Destination’. In chapter 17, it is again ten years earlier – 15 August – and the friends are in Prague, by the astronomical clock. Nico is trying to choose a postcard for his parents, he likes collecting postcards and makes Xacobe promise to send him a postcard wherever he goes. In chapter 18, after the party, Bea and Antón have a bust-up, and Bea comes back into the kitchen. She confesses to Nico that she knew about Xacobe and Aroa’s relationship and also thinks that Xacobe may have committed suicide rather than accidentally taking too much digoxin. Nico takes Bea to the guest room only to reappear a moment later, saying Aroa is not in her bedroom and has disappeared. In chapter 19, ten years earlier, it is 17 August, and the friends are in Budapest. Aroa confesses to Bea that she is tired of her relationship with Xacobe and thinks everything would be much easier with Nico. In chapter 20, after the party, Aroa has taken the car and is driving along the motorway on her way to Santiago Airport. She has decided to leave her life with Nico behind, because she says it was she who killed Xacobe, who deliberately increased his dose of digoxin. A month before their interrailing trip, she had tried to break up with him, she couldn’t bear this double life, no one knowing about their relationship, but Xacobe had begged her not to do this, his life would come to an end, he would be subsumed in eternal darkness, she just had to give him a while longer, enough time to set himself up as a prestigious writer, and then they could declare their love to the world. Aroa wasn’t convinced, she didn’t think the two of them went so well together, Xacobe made her suffer, but in spite of all this she agreed. From Santiago Airport, she sends Nico a message: ‘We’ll always have Prague’. She knows that Nico could forgive her for everything except the murder of his friend.

In chapter 21, it is 19 August, and the friends are in Venice, Piero’s home town. Piero will leave them here. He is planning to do a cookery course and take over his parents’ restaurant. Nico and Xacobe wish him all the best, and Xacobe thinks it is unlikely they will ever meet again. In chapter 22, Nico and Bea follow Aroa to the airport, where Aroa claims it was she who killed Xacobe. Her parents had a large order of oleander bushes where she kept her bees. Oleander contains digoxin. She kept the jars of honey from the nectar of the oleander bushes separate, but Xacobe took one, and Aroa neglected to inform him of the possible dangers. She was tired of their situation. Nico protests that Xacobe would have known about the dangers, he had a great interest in botany, and it wasn’t her fault. Aroa says there is only one way to find out and heads towards the car park.

In chapter 23, it is 25 August, and the six friends are now in Florence, in the Basilica of Santa Croce. Xacobe stands in front of the tomb of Michelangelo and remarks to Aroa how some people, like this artist he admires so much, are capable of overcoming time and being remembered not just by their loved ones. He wants Aroa to say that she will wait for him, but Aroa replies that no one can accurately predict the future. In chapter 24, Aroa, Nico and Bea leave the airport and visit the house of Xacobe’s old nursemaid, Rosangela. It was she who cared for Xacobe when his mother left and his father was away on business. It was also she who discovered Xacobe’s body in his bedroom, together with a hallucinogenic plant the Brazilians call ‘sonhadora’. Between them, Xacobe’s father, the coroner, who was a friend, and Rosangela covered up the real cause of Xacobe’s death and, in return, Xacobe’s father bought Rosangela a house and paid for her children to travel from Brazil to Galicia.

In chapter 25, it is 27 August, and the friends are in Carcassonne in France. The others are keen by now to return to the comfort of their homes; only Xacobe doesn’t want to return, but the others say he must be looking forward to studying at Columbia University in the USA, even though this means being far away. Xacobe hides his real feelings, and the friends continue sightseeing. In chapter 26, it is still ten years earlier, the date is 10 September, and now it is Xacobe narrating the story. He accepts that his father is going to get remarried and is already expecting a child with his future wife. He isn’t looking forward to travelling to the States to study literature at Columbia, but hopes Aroa will wait for him. In his bedroom, he cuts the petals off the hallucinogenic plant and puts them in his mouth as a way of escaping the present. He has read all about the plant and is sure he is taking the correct dose, despite his heart condition. In chapter 27, it is ten years earlier – 4 August – and the friends are back in Bergen. Xacobe and Aroa take advantage of the crowd to steal a kiss, aware that things are about to change. At that precise moment, someone takes a photograph of the scene, which will become the postcard Nico discovers ten years later on.

This is an excellent book, half adventure, half thriller, cleverly told from the point of view of the different participants in the story and also on a timescale that alternates between the present and ten years earlier, when the events that have brought the friends back together unfolded. This novel was awarded the main Galician prize for young adult fiction, the Jules Verne, in 2015.

Synopsis © Jonathan Dunne