| David Lalé studied at Edinburgh University and is currently on the Documentary Direction Course at the National Film and Television School. Aged 27, he lives in Oxford. Last Stop Santa Cruz
In his first novel, writer and film-maker David Lale uses as his anti-hero the notorious poet, boxer, forger and art critic Arthur Cravan, who pretended to be Oscar Wilde’s nephew. Cravan adored scandal and pledged more than once to commit suicide in public…
Call him a cultural provocateur or simply a nasty piece of work, Arthur dodged serving in World War One, embarking instead on a mad flight that took him from Modernist Paris to revolutionary Mexico - where he disappeared in mysterious circumstances, in a sailboat off the coast at Santa Cruz.
Ninety years later, a young man retraces his footsteps. Obsessed with the legend of the man, he hitch-hikes across Europe and America, hoping to find out what really happened to Cravan.
As the journey takes our narrator further and further from his former life, it emerges that, like Cravan, he is running away from something dark and dangerous. The story reaches its climax in the desolate outskirts of Salina Cruz. Only here does the true purpose of the young man’s journey become apparent…
US and translation rights available
PUBLISHED
- Last Stop Santa Cruz
Alma Books, April 2007
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