March 9, 2015
Alfonso is a short novel set in Sydney between 1962 and 1971. The
protagonist is a man from the northwest of Spain who migrates to Australia to
escape poverty. When he arrives in Australia he confronts language problems,
homesickness and isolation. He works as a carpenter and eventually buys an old
house in Surry Hills, unaware of the cost and commitment associated with old
houses and feuding neighbours. When the house is finished he meets a woman and
they fall in love, but the woman leaves for England. The story then traces his
search for love and in the process he finds a way to belong in his new country.
More than a love story, this is a novella about the migrant experience in which
all that is known is forfeited in the search for material security.