Like a Fading Shadow

Travel Guide

Lisbon

The story  traces three journeys to the city: Ray’s desperate attempt to evade justice in 1968; a research trip undertaken by the young Muñoz Molina for his breakthrough novel Winter in Lisbon in 1987; and the return journey taken by the novelist as he attempts to reconstruct these twin stories from the instability of the past.

Aided by the recent declassification of James Earl Ray’s FBI case file, this is a retelling of the assassination of King, Ray’s time on the run and his eventual capture. This novel is for the most part set in Lisbon although the entire story takes in Canada, London, and many other places as Ray attempts to escape authorities. These are however the ten days in Libson that provide the backdrop to this novel.

Martin Luther King

King was booked in Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. He was fatally shot by James Earl Ray  on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the motel’s second-floor balcony. Despite emergency surgery, King died at St. Joseph’s Hospital that same day.

The assassination led to a nationwide wave of race riots across America

Two months after King’s death, escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured at London Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on a false passport. He was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King’s murder. He confessed to the assassination though he recanted this confession three days later. He spent the remainder of his life attempting, unsuccessfully, to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had.