The steep crags of the mountains of Tramuntana, now visible, opened up into a bay, at the end of which, we were told, stood the village of Súmir, a fishing and farming village, with a sheltered port, from which, vessels used to sail off to Adia, freighted by the island merchants.

[...]

The sun had sunk behind the range of the TramuntanaMountains, the Serra, as the islanders called it, and a blue light, with a hint of yellow, still illuminated our navigation.

Súmir was a village that led up to slopes, surrounded, on the lower side, by orange groves, almond groves and farming land. The quay with the fishing boats was completely empty andthere was no boat in sight on the fishing quay. Nor was there anybody on the steep streets of the village as we made our way there. No sign of people or animals: the yelping of the dogs, the meows of the cats, the neighing of the mares, the cackling of the poultry, the braying of the donkeys, the bellowing of the cows and the bleating of the sheep all absent…not even the chirping of birds in the air, such a distinctive feature of this luxuriant soil. Even the seagulls that we had encountered near the island and that had accompanied us with theirscreams, had now fled.

L’illa de les Tres Taronges (The island of the three oranges), 1987

Translated by Núria Cohen.

(Barcelona, 1945 – L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, 1998). Jaume Fuster was a writer, translator, columnist and scriptwriter. A highly acclaimed author of contemporary Catalan literature, he was part of the literary generation of the 1970s and the group Trencavel. As a committed cultural activist he championed cultural movements in favour of the official use of Catalan as well as in literature. With L´illa de les tres taronges (1983) was the first book of a trilogy followed by L´anell de ferro (1985) and El jardí de les palmeres (1993).