A Cup of Tea in Pamplona

"A Cup of Tea in Pamplona" actually has nothing to do with tea or Pamplona (the city famous for its running of the bulls) and frankly I think Laxalt could have found a better title. The book is a poignant novel about Basque smugglers, set in the 1960s. In his recent book, "The Land of My Fathers", Laxalt lamented the extinction of the "contrabandiers" (as they're known in France) when Spain entered the European Union, regretting that "something of the romantic past has been lost". In this slim and rapid-fire novel, though, Laxalt makes no bones about the ugly, desperate, and sometimes violent world of the "romantic past" of Basque smugglers.The story revolves around Nikolas, an impoverished Basque with a wife and infant sons who, driven by financial despair and in spite of his wish to live a respectable life, takes on work as a "contrabandier" for Gregorio, the "patrón" of a small team of smugglers. As the narrator comments, Nikolas "[breaks] the pattern in a land where patterns were not made to be broken. If your father was a cobbler, then it followed that you were a cobbler. If your father was a peasant, then you had better remain a peasant, too. If you were born poor, then it was your duty to remain poor." Gregorio argues him out of tradition, though, reminding Nikolas (correctly) that a man cannot feed and clothe his family with "the substance of respectability" and, besides, smuggling "was not like stealing from a neighbor. The only victim was the government, and who had ever felt sorry for a government?"Gregorio arranges to have Nikolas lead a team of other smugglers (including Luis, Nikolas' brother-in-law) in an effort to smuggle fifty horses over the frontier straddling the ridge of the Pyrenees between France and Spain. If they are caught by the French border guards, they'll spend time in jail, which can mean ruin for a poor man. Worse, if they struggle with the guards, it can mean death on the mountain.Does the novel end in tragedy or does the team successfully make it over? Laxalt doesn't drop hints beforehand. Neither will I. However it ends, "A Cup of Tea in Pamplona" is a weighty indictment of the grinding poverty that led Basques into smuggling. It offers a good glimpse into social conditions in the Basque Country, and though it isn't an "ethnic" novel or "quaint" in any way, you'll come away knowing something about customs and social relations in the Basque Country forty years ago. Additionally, Laxalt has an ear for terse narration and realistic dialogue free of clichés, plus the ability to weave a intense, continually engrossing plot. I'm thinking about travelling in the Pyrenees next spring and found this book a great way to get a feel for the place. And having read Laxalt before, I can also say that I'll definitely read him again. A+ and 5 stars.