ABOUT
THE BOOK

Translated from the original Spanish by Edith Grossman

2014 Longlist

In 1916, the Irish nationalist Roger Casement was hanged by the British government for treason. Casement had dedicated his life to improving the plight of oppressed peoples around the world. But when he dared to draw a parallel between the injustices he witnessed in African and American colonies and those committed by the British in Northern Ireland, he became involved in a cause that led to his imprisonment and execution. Ultimately, the scandals surrounding Casement’s trial and eventual hanging marred his image to such a degree that his pioneering human rights work wasn’t fully reexamined until the 1960s. The Dream of the Celt is a fascinating fictional account of an extraordinary man in the original and dynamic style of Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. A painstakingly researched and lively novel about a neglected human rights pioneer.