Biography
Abel Tomé is one of the younger generation of Galician writers, but his work has already garnered widespread attention. He graduated in journalism from the University of Santiago de Compostela and is studying for a Master’s in Human Rights. Having won a prize for food journalism with some of his colleagues in 2013 and the poetry prize Revista A Pipa in 2015, his first published novel, Night of the Crow, was shortlisted for the Illa Nova Award for fiction in 2017. His second novel, Night of the Wolf, won the same award in 2019. The two books form part of a series, the titles of the chapters being taken from the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as a way of emphasizing the close relationship of the works with the surrounding nature. It is hoped there will be more books in the same series.
Synopsis
Night of the Crow (204 pages) is Abel Tomé’s first novel and centres on the police inspector Gonçalves, who is called to investigate the murder of the Haggerty family inside their house on Gothard Island, which is ruled by an all-powerful chancellor, Aidan Faol. He will be accompanied in his investigation by two, contrasting young police officers, Pietre and Lúa. The titles of the chapters are taken from Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself”.
Sample
Death bore the form of an apparently happy family. The form of a trouble-making boy. The form of a timid daughter with a taste for mathematics. The form of a four-eyed father with books piled up on the bedside table. The form of a suspiciously attractive woman.
Death bore the form of death.
Portico of Galician Literature 