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Years ago I heard about a programme Paul Auster had on the American public radio station NPR called ‘The National Short Story Project’. Auster came on air the first night and asked American listeners to send in their stories. The only two conditions, he said, were that the stories should be true and short.

In this book, Emili Teixidor returns to the setting of his previous novel Pa Negre, this time dealing with a different facet of the post civil war era: the invasion of the villages and provinces by forces that are more cultural than military.

In 1837, in the middle of the Carlist war, in a moment when the past and future come together in a violent collision, a young Prussian crosses the Pyrenees to fight for Order. However, due to a misunderstanding he finds himself trapped in a disconcerting ruined city. As time passes his confusion grows until it becomes a constant companion and the only way he has left of viewing the world.

The Sack Men are immersed in a gruesome and shadowy fairy story, 33 stories divided into three parts. A corrosive and amoral satire about human emotions, cloaked in dark, insane and apocalyptic humour. In short: a dreamlike and demented retelling of some of our childhood tales. Now stained with discourtesy and causticity.