Sun Alley | Cecilia Stefanescu

Sal, the protagonist of 'Sun Alley', is an exceptionally intelligent twelve-year-old boy, experiencing his first love. One summer afternoon, on his way to see his girlfriend Emi, he is caught in a rain shower and shelters in the hallway of a block of flats. Led by a strong odour, he goes down into the basement, where he comes upon the corpse of a young and very beautiful woman. Little by little, Sal will attempt to discover the mystery of this body and, at the same time, will pursue in his amorous relationship with Emi; a strange liaison which unfolds in parallel with the adulterous affair of an adult couple whose path Sal repeatedly crosses. As his love story with Emi evolves, Sal tries his best to hide it, not only from the cynical eyes of his friends in the neighbourhood, but also from his parents whose intervention might well shatter his bliss thereby developing a veritably adulterous mindset that can also be observed in the adult couple. The connections between adults and the two children, on the one hand, and the dead body discovered by Sal on the other, are far deeper and more complicated than they may at first seem. Sun Alley is a novel about the roots of adultery and the destiny of an exceptional young boy who, thanks to his gifts, has the power to see his own future in his mind s eye.