Xesús Fraga constructs a story around the trials of a particular family originally from As Mariñas near A Coruña who are marked by emmigration. This is also the story of the second half of the 20th century which the the author brings to life recounting feelings, memories, and using photographs, a mother's diary, and the voices of witnesses willing to tell their tales. This is a book with many layers of meaning that takes us on many journeys, and the guides us along as if taking us on a trip on the London underground - and indeed, London is a city with a gravitational pull that attracts all the novel's characters. This is also the story of an awestruck grandchild and a powerful grandmother. The story is about the ones who left and what happened when they returned. They are not the same and neither is the land they once left behind.