36 Sandford Road and Other Stories Other

By Rachael Adam

OxIA Bookstore price – 350

Sangre De Toro Other

By Rachael Adam

OxIA Bookstore price – 999

Sangre De Toro is a detective story set between Spain and England. It is about a bull, Pepelito, who escapes from a Spanish bullfight and ends up hiding in the house of a police detective, Rita Silvera, who is investigating several murders. Rita is e...Show more

Sangre De Toro is a detective story set between Spain and England. It is about a bull, Pepelito, who escapes from a Spanish bullfight and ends up hiding in the house of a police detective, Rita Silvera, who is investigating several murders. Rita is estranged from her family for various reasons and Pepelito becomes a substitute for a family member. At the same time, she falls in love with the vet who she seeks out to treat Pepelito’s injuries. Not only does she have to do her usual job, but she now has to look after an injured and deeply traumatised bull within her own house, and develops a caring relationship with him.

It soon becomes clear that the serial killer case that Rita is investigating is linked to the bullfighting industry and a sinister group of bloodsports enthusiasts.

As well as this, the matador who was set to kill Pepelito, Javier Castella, decides to send his minions after the bull so that he can bring him back to the arena and complete his ‘masterpiece’. This leads to a series of twists and turns and increasingly shocking events until the conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed writing the book and found these parts very exciting to write, and hope that you will too.

I had the idea for this book after researching an article about prominent politicians who are involved in supporting bullfighting, and writing a story about the subject was something of a catharsis for me. One bullfighting aficionado stated in an article I read for research that if a story about bullfighting was written today, then it would likely be extremely negative. However, I could not find any stories like this, so I decided to write one myself. The bull’s perspective is rarely included in stories about bullfighting, and this was one of the motivations I had for wanting to finish the book.

Recently, Sangre De Toro was praised by campaigner and researcher Jordi Casamitjana in a lengthy review which can be found here: https://veganfta.com/2025/02/12/sangre-de-toro-a-novel-about-the-reality-of-the-bullfighting-mafia/ In the review, he stated, ‘Some elements move into the magical realism to help the narrative, but altogether the experience of reading the book will educate you, and give you a new perspective about the world of bullfighting and the connection between that world and the world of violence toward humans.’