Discovered in a dusty room in an old bookshop in Galloway, Scotland, The Night Tram is a hand-written, leather-bound volume made in San Sebastián during the Plague years of 1918 to 1919, when up to 55 million people worldwide died of what was erroneously called “The Spanish Flu.” This book, the personal journal of Félix Rocinante, Circus Clown, Poet, Philosopher and (eventually) Tram Driver, is both a vivid record of the terrible effect the disease has upon a small South American city, and a beautifully written account of the short but full life and loves of a man who, in spite of only having had three days schooling, nevertheless writes like a true master.
Many readers have already pointed out echoes and resonances of our own troubled times, but Félix Rocinante can hardly have known, as he sat there in his little Adobe house putting pen to paper, faithfully recording all that was happening around him, that the Plague years would come once more to haunt the world and that there would be the same eternal battle between lies and the truth.
Sean Cusack (verified owner) –
An excoriating satire of the way the pandemic was handled by the British government and mass media and a love letter to the decent ordinary folk who carried on and did their best. Thank you Mike. A genuinely funny book. I’m not given to laughing our loud while reading but I did so repeatedly.