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THE EXILES by Albert J. Guerard

THE EXILES

By

Pub Date: Feb. 11th, 1962
Publisher: Macmillan

A parable in the guise of a sophisticated political thriller traces the second disappearance of Villamayor, a poet, historian, dilettante, revolutionary ""malgre lui"" and manque, from the small Caribbean country of Santa Isabella; and the second exile is Menuel Andrada anxious to find (and suppress) Villamayor's missing manuscripts. With Nicholas live, an American Journalist, Andrada follows Villamayor's flight from Santa isabella and its Protector, a two bit dictator, to Port au Prince, and finally to his latest refuge where he is surrounded by a coterie of disciples, drifters and two dedicated women. Andrada, more foolish than sinister, a pomaded bully boy with a taste for sexual indulgence, is overwhelmed there by one of the two girls- Consuela- a she-devil; and the story which breaks in the news, that Villamayor is heading an invasion army, only leads to Andrada's flight, and Villamayor's new disappearance... The Latin American melee of fanaticism, ambiguity, violence, incoherence and opera bouffe provides a diversion with a real conspiratorial flair; any whispered suggestions of similarity to any actual characters or situations are firmly denounced by the author.