Deep Cuts (212 pages) is Irene Rega Jul’s debut novel in the Galician language and won the Illa Nova Award for Fiction, awarded to writers under the age of 35, in its sixth edition. It comprises a preface, 27 shortish chapters and an epilogue.

Mariña has disappeared. She was supposed to spend the afternoon at home, but when her mother arrives home in the evening, she isn’t there. Her mother decides to contact the police. At the police station, the inspector on duty is Mario Fernández, who has been transferred from the city of Vigo to the small town of Viveiro on Galicia’s northern coast. Nothing much ever happens, minor crimes, little more. He is 55 and due to retire, but prefers to keep working. He had a drinking problem in Vigo, which caused his friends to distance themselves and eventually led to his transferral. This is his last chance to stay on the force. He is informed that Mariña’s mother, Azucena Gutérrez, wishes to see him. She explains that her daughter is not at home. The inspector suspects the normal motives – she is out with some friends, she’ll turn up later. The mother gives him a photo of her daughter and tells him they are new in the town and her daughter has been bullied. The inspector sees fear in the daughter’s eyes, the fear of not fitting in, the fear of being in a place where you do not belong. He tells the mother to come back the following morning.

At home, Azucena feels guilty. She is a single mother and regrets leaving Mariña at home alone while she works from morning to night. She takes out the list of parents from Mariña’s class and phones everybody, but nobody has seen her or knows her whereabouts. The inspector returns to his rented apartment where he hasn’t even finished unpacking, because that would mean admitting his mistake, the problem with alcohol that led to him being transferred from Vigo. He has informed Deputy Inspector Afonso Alonso about the case, contacted the local hospitals and told the patrol cars to keep a lookout. He is excited to have a new case to work on, but also pessimistic about the outcome. He didn’t like the fear he saw in the child’s eyes. He sleeps badly and soon returns to the office, aware that the first few hours are the most important.

The next morning, Azucena still hasn’t heard anything. She checks her daughter’s bedroom to see if anything is missing, but everything is as it should be. She hasn’t even unpacked her school bag. She goes to see the inspector, who asks about Mariña’s friends. Azucena replies that she spends most of her time with a girl called Celtia, but doesn’t have a boyfriend. She was bullied at her primary school in the village, which is why they have moved to Viveiro, to have a fresh start. She has brought up the child without the father’s help. The inspector encourages her to get some sleep, if she can. Deputy Inspector Afonso arrives late, as usual. They are about to head out when a new inspector enters Mario’s office. Her name is Sofía Quiroga and she looks very young. The three of them go to visit Mariña’s school, where they meet the head teacher and Mariña’s tutor, Sonia, who explains that Mariña’s behaviour the day before was quite normal.

Sonia describes Mariña as a model student with a special aptitude for Mathematics and Literature, who always did her homework, but only ever answered in class when she was asked. It was as if she didn’t want to draw attention to herself or to stand out. Mario searches Mariña’s locker and discovers strips of paper containing insults and threats like ‘Your mother should have had an abortion’ and ‘Get ready, we’ll be waiting for you at the exit’. He shows them to the tutor, who is very surprised. Mario feels angry that there was no one to support her in this situation. Sofía, the other inspector, sympathizes with Mariña. She also had a difficult childhood, being abandoned by her biological family and growing up in children’s homes. She got into fights and also stole things. It was only when she was arrested and put in a cell that she came to her senses. She intended to leave school when she was seventeen, so she could have a job and be independent by the time she was eighteen, but a teacher had told her to finish her studies and then to go and live with her and her husband. These people had given her the chance to become a police officer, which is what she had always wanted.

Mario and Sofía go to Mariña’s apartment to talk to the officers from forensics who are searching her room. Nothing is missing, her money is there. They have checked the computer, which she shares with her mother. She has been on a page that deals with depression, and Mario weighs up the possibility of suicide, but her mother is convinced that Mariña wouldn’t do such a thing and has not left willingly. Sofía thinks if she committed suicide, she would do it where she could be found quickly, to prevent her mother suffering. They join the search party that has been organized for the afternoon, but find nothing useful in the surrounding area. Meanwhile, a boy from Mariña’s class is hiding in the toilets. He feels terribly guilty for letting some of the other pupils bully Mariña when she was a good classmate and someone he admired. But he hadn’t intervened the previous night to stop it happening. He writes a letter, which he places in Celtia’s bag, and then puts Mariña’s mobile in an envelope, planning to give it to the police. The others in the group had been drinking when they’d gone to the mountain the night before, as if alcohol could serve as an excuse for what they’d done.

The next day, Saturday, there is another search on the mountain next to Mariña’s apartment. During the search, Mariña’s mobile turns up next to a patrol car. The forensics officer, Alicia Torreiro, thinks about the data she’ll be able to collect from the mobile. Mario feels desperate about what might have happened to the girl, and Sofía wonders what effect this will have on her career. Azucena, the mother, doesn’t know how to confront life without her daughter. Mario asks for a list of those who have volunteered to take part in the search, since he is convinced the person or people responsible for Mariña’s disappearance will be among them. It is obvious now that Mariña has disappeared against her will. There is then a flashback, to the town of Foz seven years earlier, when Mariña was seven and went on an excursion to gather mushrooms. The group she was in pushed her down the hill. It was the first time she had been bullied, and after that she found it difficult to fit in.

Back at the police station, Mario and Sofía read Mariña’s diary, but don’t find anything especially interesting. What is interesting is the bank account Mariña has so that she can study at university. There is 700 euros of her own money, plus another 6,000 euros from a bank account in Germany. Celtia comes to the police station, accompanied by her father. She claims that Mariña and she are not really friends, it’s just they don’t have anyone else to hang out with. She is sure that Mariña would not have disappeared of her own free will. She, in fact, knows much more, but is afraid to say anything. Sofía receives a phone call from her mother in Coruña. She has Alzheimer’s and forgets that her husband has died. Sofía would like her to come and live with her in Viveiro. There is then another flashback, this time to six years earlier, when Mariña was eight. She was hiding in the toilets, hoping that the children who bullied her wouldn’t be able to find her, but they did. They then beat her in the toilets until she started to bleed. When they left, the head teacher found her and asked who had done this. She thought the head teacher would be able to help her and gave him the names. Later, in the gym, they removed the mat she was supposed to land on and she broke her arm. Everybody thought it was an accident, but she knew it wasn’t.

It is late, and Mario heads home. He is surprised to see people looking happy in the street, when a girl is missing, but he realizes that people need to get on with their lives. He thinks about having supper in a bar, but realizes the temptation to have a drink might prove too much. He still wonders where the 6,000 euros might have come from, since he can’t believe it has to do with drugs or prostitution. He receives a phone call from the head teacher in Viveiro, who says Mariña had missed her Maths lesson on Thursday morning, the day she went missing, because she had a doctor’s note. Mario asks if she had skipped class on other days as well. Azucena has a secret lover, her manager from work. So far, they have kept their relationship separate from Mariña, but given the circumstances, the manager comes around to her house with some food and a bottle of wine, to be a shoulder to cry on. They make love.

It is a Sunday night several weeks earlier, and Mariña receives a phone call from Pablo, the boy in her class who likes her. He wants to warn Mariña that the bullies are going to shut her in the toilets the following day. Mariña sees that Pablo is good on the inside, she also likes him, but on the outside he behaves just like the others. He himself says that he is a coward and doesn’t want to become a target for the bullies as well. He tells Mariña not to come to school, but she ignores his warning and is shut in the toilets after everyone has gone home. Half an hour later, Pablo comes to let her out and helps her escape from the school, which is locked up. He says he will warn her in the future and they have some doctor’s notes she can use to be absent when this is going to happen. It is Saturday night. Celtia discovers the letter in her bag, which tells her to make a missed call to a number she doesn’t know and then to get dressed and go to school. Early on Sunday morning, a taxi-driver returning from his shift discovers a heap of clothes and plastic bags in the middle of the road. It turns out to be a body. The inspector is informed.

Several months earlier, Mariña asks to join a group of older children who are not from her school. She lies about her name and age. But they let her and listen to her story. The worst part was during lockdown, when the bullies obtained her phone number and started sending threats and insults at all hours of the day. The group encourages her to talk to someone, and now they feel guilty that what has happened to Mariña may be their fault. Azucena arrives at the scene where the body is. The inspector takes her to the hospital. They are still uncertain about the person’s identity, since their face is disfigured and it appears they have been in an accident. Their blood type, however, is not Mariña’s. Meanwhile, the inspector could do with a drink, but he is afraid of setting the monster inside him loose. He thinks back to the time in Vigo he arrived at work drunk, and his friend Víctor called his wife, Ofelia, to take him home. He then hit her. It was then he realized he had a problem and got himself admitted to a rehab clinic. When he came out, he stayed with Víctor and received the request for a divorce from Ofelia, which he signed. He was then transferred to Viveiro. He later learned Víctor and Ofelia were going out, but he couldn’t blame them, not after what he had become.

The girl on a life-support machine in hospital is identified as Celtia and her father is informed, but they can’t work out how she got into this state. Mario and Sofía question some of the children at Mariña’s school. They are then approached by Mariña’s group of friends, who explain that she used to miss school to spend time with them, that she was treated terribly by her schoolmates, that she helped them with their homework, and that they had encouraged to talk to a journalist about the situation. They think the bullies might have attacked her out of revenge. They explain that the money in her account was from her father, who had got in touch with her and wanted to help. Mario and Sofía are convinced that Pablo knows something. The deputy inspector locates the journalist Mariña is supposed to have talked to. Several weeks earlier, Mariña meets up with her friends, who tell her about the journalist, and decides to share what she has been through. Had she known what would happen, she would never have done this.

The inspectors interview the journalist, who thought the girl she was talking to was called Aurora and was sixteen. She had no idea it was Mariña. They used to meet on a Wednesday afternoon, and Mariña (or Aurora) would share her experiences. She had started to self-harm and had even considered suicide. The bullies had created a social-media account in her name, where they posted photos taken secretly. The forensics officer, Alicia, shares some of the information on Mariña’s phone, including a video that had been uploaded on Thursday evening, where a boy forcefully kisses her in a house with a broken window. The girl is terrified. Azucena explains to the inspector how she got pregnant when she was seventeen, but her boyfriend, Felipe, wanted her to have an abortion and was leaving for Germany the next day. He only found out that Azucena had had the child a year earlier, at which point he had contacted Mariña with the offer of financial aid to enable her to study. He is not involved in Mariña’s disappearance – he has been in Germany all the time.

The police arrest Pablo, who explains that the bullies found out Mariña had been talking to a journalist and took her to an abandoned house on the outskirts of Viveiro, where they shut her in the bathroom. Their intention was to let her go on Friday, but there were too many people about, so they kept her there until Sunday, when she escaped and fell down an embankment. Pablo informed Celtia about the house on Saturday night, in the hope she would go there with other people, but she had obviously gone there on her own, and that was why she had turned up half dead in the middle of the road. We find out what happened to Celtia. She went to the school to be told by Pablo that Mariña was being held against her will. She went to the abandoned house, saw Raúl on top of Mariña and told him to let her go. Mariña escaped and fell off the embankment. They all presumed she was dead. The bullies turned their attention to Celtia – she was a witness – so Celtia ran and, as she crossed the road, was hit by a lorry. The bullies went home, having agreed not to say anything.

Pablo gives them the names of the three bullies, and the police have them arrested. The inspectors then go in search of Mariña. With the aid of police dogs, they locate Mariña in a ruined house where she has taken refuge. She doesn’t want to let them approach her, she is afraid of what will happen to her. She is holding a piece of glass and threatening to harm herself. Mario manages to get hold of the glass. The girl faints and is taken to hospital by helicopter in a serious condition, with internal bleeding. They are worried they are too late. In the epilogue, Azucena keeps watch over her daughter, who is in a coma for a long time. The doctors have warned her she may never wake up. Celtia recovers from her injuries and comes to sit with her, as do Mariña’s group of friends. Just as there seems to be no hope, the nightmare ends and Mariña regains consciousness.

This is a convincing and intelligent narrative that deals with school bullying and the terrible wounds, both visible and invisible, that this inflicts on the victims. It points the finger not only at bullies, but also at those who watch on in silence, from classmates to society at large. Everybody is guilty for keeping quiet and not denouncing a situation that is right before their eyes. The only bright light for Mariña is the group of friends from another school, with whom she feels like a different person, she even looks different, because they offer her friendship and are prepared to listen. Mariña recovers consciousness, yes, but only after being badly wounded – deep cuts, the title of the book – and having to endure years of fear and loneliness. It is a critique of those who bully, but also of a society that permits this to happen.

Synopsis © Jonathan Dunne