The book of Judith

The Book of Judith is set in Madrid during the last days of the dictator, Franco. Indeed it opens at his deathbed, and his presence touches every corner of the city, of his country: his doubts and his partial faith, his deeds and his refusals, ensnare the people he drew to Spain - from Britain - in puzzlement, in opposition. The Book of Judith has the clarity of Leonardo Sciascia's exploratory fictions, with, in addition, certain elements of crucial importance to Hood: the needs of the body, the awkward burden of cultural inhibition, and the different freedom of women. It is a novel which begins to make sense of the political confusions of recent decades. The search for identity, the dangers of political adventurism, and the manipulation of women are among Hood's insistent themes.