Skip to content The novel cuts rapidly between the two men’s final moments. Joël, now an elderly man in Tel Aviv, takes his violin to the beach at sunset. He finally dares to play the Brahms concerto. The music floats over the Mediterranean. For a moment, the shadows disappear, and there is only light.
Màrius dies alone in his room. His hand reaches for a blank sheet of paper. The last sentence of the novel: “I en la foscor, alguna cosa encara brillava: el record d’una melodia que no s’havia oblidat mai.” (And in the darkness, something still shone: the memory of a melody that had never been forgotten.) ombres a la foscor resum per capitols
Màrius is transferred to a forced labour battalion building roads for the German Organisation Todt. He befriends Pere, a cynical but loyal friend from Barcelona. They discuss survival. Màrius secretly writes poetry on scraps of paper – a dangerous act in a camp where any sign of intellectual activity is punished. The novel cuts rapidly between the two men’s final moments
Màrius is selected for a “special transport” along with 500 men. They are crammed into cattle cars. The journey lasts nine days. A pregnant woman dies in the corner. When the doors open, they are not in France anymore. They are in Mauthausen concentration camp, Austria. The chapter ends with a brutal sentence: “Aquí no hi ha noms. Només números.” (Here there are no names. Only numbers.) The music floats over the Mediterranean
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