Michal Mareš

The Angel‑maker

A land of misery – in place of an introduction

The sun beats down on the wretched plains of Istria. Here and there some feeble stalks of maize in pockets of earth washed down by the rain. But otherwise just stony, stony, stony ground, in which – Lord knows how – a few scattered cypresses and crippled olive and fig trees have found nourishment.