"Sagrario died in May, after much suffering." So begins Espido Freire's haunting novel IRLANDA, with a sentence that is bright and troubled at once, just like its hero. After the death of her sister Sagrario, young Natalia has been sent by her mother to spend the summer helping her two teenage cousins (Roberto and the beautiful, "perfect" Irlanda) do minor repairs to the family's decaying country house. Its fairy-tale "tower and chapel...stood crumbling, crawling with vermin." Jealousy, displacement, and loss: these classic themes are twisted and laid bare in a pristinely told mystery story. This beautifully translated book is the first to be published in the English language by one of Spain's youngest and most celebrated authors.