"He turned his back on the old man to mourn in silence this unnecessary death and his part in it; but the sight of the coffin brought anger instead ..."

In 1957, a burned-out British journalist leaves London to recuperate in the idyllic Andalusian village of Benalamar, a place little changed since the tumult of Spain's civil war. But when a foreign businessman arrives with plans to develop the area, the community is thrown into turmoil.

During a time of drought, the promise of a reservoir is meant to allay the fears of the local populace, but the developer has little idea what he is playing with. A local farmer commits suicide, and the investigation that follows leads back into recent history, lost love and civil war - all a far cry from the tranquil retreat that once promised respite from a world of lurid headlines and backroom shenanigans.

Drought is a keenly felt novel about memory, love and the clash between the old world and the new.

[A] compelling story . very, very good-as in Graham Greene good. * Los Angeles Times *
One of the most respected, gifted and prolific British historians of Spain * Guardian *
An English oral historian known for his deftness at collecting and presenting ordinary people's experiences during momentous events like the Spanish Civil War. * New York Times *

RONALD FRASER (1930-2012) was the leading oral historian of twentieth-century Spain. He is the author of several books, including Napoleon's Cursed War, Blood of Spain and Tajos: The Story of a Village on the Costa del Sol.