November 2020. In the midst of the state of emergency, Jon — a 23-year-old student — and César — a transporter just over forty — cross Spain from Navarre to Seville in a ramshackle truck, ignoring health restrictions. They have barely seen each other a couple of times after meeting on Grindr and embark on a quixotic quest: to find the last open sauna, supposedly hidden in a clandestine venue in Seville.
To liven up the journey, César asks Jon to read the beginning of the novel he is writing. Jon reluctantly agrees, hoping to uncover some truth about the identity of his companion. As they move southward, Jon’s story intertwines with other tales that, following the tradition of Boccaccio’s Decameron, compose the narrator’s life path.
Memory, conversations with a former lover, nostalgia, regret, guilt, and hope follow one another in an intimate mosaic that explores the bonds and limits of desire in exceptional times.
After the success of Lodo, his first novel, La última sauna del mundo confirms Julen Azcona’s ability to take narrative risks and surprise with the development of his stories.
