Books from Spain

Barcelona, 1945. A bookseller's son, Daniel Sempere, is taken to the hidden Cemetery of Forgotten Books and chooses one novel to protect for life: The Shadow of the Wind by the obscure Julián Carax. When he discovers someone has been burning every copy Carax ever wrote, his search for the author draws him into a labyrinth of old secrets and a city still scarred by the Spanish Civil War. Book one of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

• coming of age
• mystery box
• dual timeline
• forbidden love

An aging gentleman reads so many tales of chivalry that he loses his wits, dubs himself Don Quixote, and rides out with his earthy squire Sancho Panza to revive knight-errantry. Tilting at windmills he takes for giants, he blurs the line between noble illusion and unkind reality. Cervantes's masterpiece — often called the first modern novel — is by turns hilarious, heartbreaking, and profound.

• quest

In the shadowed streets of 1920s Barcelona, a struggling writer receives a strange offer from a mysterious publisher to write a book unlike any other. As he works on the manuscript, he finds himself caught in a dark web of secrets linked to his own home and the city's forgotten history. The line between reality and obsession blurs as he realizes his patron may not be human.

• unreliable narrator
• morally grey
• mystery box

The eighth adventure of Captain Diego Alatriste, and his first outing since El puente de los Asesinos. Íñigo Balboa, now serving the Spanish king's royal couriers, waits in Paris for Alatriste, Francisco de Quevedo and Sebastián Copons — and through Quevedo's offices the three swordsmen are drawn into a covert mission devised by the Count-Duke of Olivares, at a moment when Cardinal Richelieu's armies are besieging Protestant La Rochelle with English ships at its back. The errand is large enough to change the course of history, and the men sent to do it are entirely expendable.

• court intrigue
• betrayal
• morally grey

An accessible introduction to ikigai, the Japanese concept of a reason for being. Drawing on the habits of the long-lived residents of Okinawa's Ogimi village, Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles connect purpose, community, movement, and moderation into a gentle guide for a longer, more meaningful life.

A newlywed man on his honeymoon in Havana finds himself plagued by an inexplicable unease, sensing disaster for his marriage. He suspects the answers lie in his family's past, particularly his father's three marriages before his own birth. This novel explores the dangerous allure of secrets and the burden of knowledge, as the narrator grapples with what he prefers not to know.

• unreliable narrator
• family saga

Lucas Corso, a rare book dealer, is hired to authenticate a mysterious manuscript. This seemingly simple task plunges him into a dangerous conspiracy spanning Europe, where shadowy figures will stop at nothing to possess the book's secrets. Corso must navigate a treacherous path, where the price of knowledge can be paid in blood.

• quest

Discover the lyrical beauty and profound depth of Federico García Lorca's poetry in this essential collection. For generations, these verses have introduced readers to Lorca's unique voice, blending Spanish folk traditions with surrealist influences. Experience the clarity, immediacy, and emotional resonance that make his work a timeless exploration of the human spirit.

Sin noticias de Gurb es sin duda el libro más excéntrico de cuantos he escrito. No hay en él una sola sombra de melancolía. Es una mirada sobre el mundo asombrada, un punto desamparada, pero sin asomo de tragedia ni de censura. Perdido en la Barcelona preolímpica, el extraterrestre Gurb pone al servicio de su supervivencia la extraña cualidad de adoptar el aspecto que le plazca. Se pierde con la apariencia de Marta Sánchez, mientras su compañero alienígena inicia la búsqueda en la jungla urbana. Por su diario personal vamos conociendo las increíbles peripecias de un extraterrestre en Barcelona. En este relato de carácter paródico y satírico la invención de Eduardo Mendoza convierte la Barcelona cotidiana y absurda en el escenario de una carnavalada. Tras las máscaras pintarrajedas y grotescas se revela el verdadero rostro del hombre urbano actual y, tras el estilo literario, la acerada conciencia artística del escritor.

Even more popular in their day than Don Quixote, Cervantes's Exemplary Stories (1613) blend picaresque narrative, comic irony, moral ambiguity, and sheer mirth. A nobleman undergoes a change of identity to prove his love for a mere gypsy girl; two young delinquents discover a guild of criminals which models itself on a religious brotherhood; a jealous old man imprisons his child-bride in a house which conjures up both convent and seraglio; a law graduate goes mad and believes he is made of glass, and most fantastically, talking dogs philosophize on the foibles of human society in a ward full of syphilitics. By combining the extraordinary and the ordinary, the Exemplary Stories chart new novelistic territory and demonstrate Cervantes at his most imaginative and innovative. This new translation captures the full vigor of Cervantes's wit and make available two rarely printed gems, "The Illustrious Kitchen Maid" and "The Power of Blood." - Publisher.

Aquí se cuenta la peripecia vital de un hombre de leyenda: el irlandés Roger Casement. Héroe y villano, traidor y libertario, moral e inmoral, su figura múltiple se apaga y renace tras su muerte. Una novela mayor del Premio Nobel de Literatura 2010 Casement fue uno de los primeros europeos en denunciar los horrores del colonialismo. De sus viajes al Congo Belga y a la Amazonía sudamericana quedaron dos informes memorables que conmocionaron a la sociedad de su tiempo. Estos dos viajes y lo que allí vio cambiarían a Casement para siempre, haciéndole emprender otra travesía, en este caso intelectual y cívica, tanto o más devastadora. La que lo llevó a enfrentarse a una Inglaterra a la que admiraba y a militar activamente en la causa del nacionalismo irlandés. También en la intimidad, Roger Casement fue un personaje múltiple: la publicación de fragmentos de unos diarios, de veracidad dudosa, en los últimos días de su vida, airearon unas escabrosas aventuras sexuales que le valieron el desprecio de muchos compatriotas. El sueño del celta (2010) describe una aventura existencial, en la que la oscuridad del alma humana aparece en su estado más puro y, por tanto, más enfangado. La crítica ha dicho...«El sueño del celta reúne algunas de las mejores virtudes del escritor y se integra, además, en la estela de motivos temáticos fundamentales reiterados a lo largo de su obra.»Ricardo Senabre, El Cultural «Vargas Llosa no tiene rival: en El sueño del celta la tarea de lectura y documentación previa es ingente, descomunal y titánica. Pero jamás abruma al lector. He aquí el primer mérito de esta novela: contar una historia como si todo fuera verdad escondiendo la mentira. El segundo mérito estriba en el dominio absoluto y constante del creador sobre su criatura. Ha escrito novelas más complejas técnicamente, pero la estructura de esta queda perfectamente encajada en lo que el novelista se ha propuesto... Con un dominio absoluto de la novela, que empieza en 1903 y acaba en una cárcel de Londres en 1916, demuestra por qué la Academia sueca lo premió con el Nobel.»Ricardo Baixeras, El Periódico «El sueño del celta dibuja, con los recursos de la ficción, los despiadados entresijos del poder y la fuerza de la individualidad... La novela avanza envolvente, a ritmo impecable, y nos sumerge en una crónica sobrecogedora del despotismo, con unos personajes tan enraizados en su doliente y contradictoria humanidad que hacen de esta novela un gran regalo literario.»C. Méndez, Expansión «Una novela que aspira a abarcar todo el inabarcable espacio de la vida de un hombre... Con esa manera de contar de Vargas Llosa que emboba, arrastra, hipnotiza y demuestra una vez más que, en efecto, la muerte lo encontrará escribiendo, pues, pasados los 70 años, escribir un prodigio como El sueño del celta mueve a envidia, admiración ilimitada y aplauso cerrado.»Francisco García Pérez, Información «De nuevo en el mundo ficticio de Vargas Llosa se revela en toda su crudeza la verdad de las mentiras. Innecesarios los elogios.»Juan A. Masoliver Ródenas, La Vanguardia (Cultura/s)

This erotic novel by Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa centers on a sexually open couple. Their fantasies push the boundaries of conventional morality. The story is dedicated to Spanish film director Luis García Berlanga.

• morally grey
• forbidden love

Pascual Duarte, a man condemned to death, recounts his brutal life story from a prison cell. Set in the harsh, impoverished rural Spain of the early 20th century, his narrative details a series of violent acts and tragic events that define his existence. This stark and unflinching novel explores themes of fate, social determinism, and the human capacity for cruelty.

• unreliable narrator
• anti hero

Composed around 1022 while Ibn Hazm was living in Játiva, in Al-Andalus, 'Tawq al-Hamama' ('The Ring of the Dove') is a treatise on the nature and course of romantic love, unfolding across thirty chapters on its signs, its stages, fidelity, betrayal, separation and loss. Ibn Hazm draws on his own life and on stories of lovers he knew in Andalusian society, illustrating his prose observations throughout with his own poetry. It is his only surviving work of literature, otherwise known as a jurist and theologian, and survives today in a single medieval manuscript. English readers reach it chiefly through A.J. Arberry's 1953 translation, 'The Ring of the Dove: A Treatise on the Art and Practice of Arab Love.'

Follow Onofre Bouvila, a penniless immigrant, as he navigates Barcelona between the 1888 and 1929 Universal Exhibitions. From anarchist propagandist and hair-growth elixir salesman, Bouvila rises to the pinnacle of financial and criminal power. This satirical and playful fantasy uses a strong realistic foundation, yet embraces unrestrained fabulation.

• anti hero
• villain protagonist

In this novel, the line between reality and the impossible blurs, inviting readers into a world where language itself is deconstructed. Characters like the elderly Emerita, who harbors a dark secret, and young Julia, lost in her own linguistic world, navigate a landscape filled with hidden truths. As the narrative unfolds, it explores themes of mortality and the nature of storytelling, questioning what is real and what is imagined.

• unreliable narrator
• mystery box

Experience the world through the eyes of a young boy and his beloved donkey, Platero, in this collection of poetic vignettes. Set in the sun-drenched town of Moguer, Spain, this lyrical work captures the simple joys and deep bond of an unforgettable friendship. It's a tender look at childhood memories and the beauty found in everyday life.

A young man and a philosopher's meditation on faith, doubt, and the nature of truth, told through a first-person narrative that blurs the line between reality and imagination.

One night, a man finds his married lover dead in her bed. Faced with a profound moral dilemma, he must decide whether to reveal his presence or disappear, leaving her family to discover the tragedy. As he observes the grieving family from a distance, he becomes entangled in a web of secrets and unspoken truths, questioning the nature of identity, memory, and the consequences of his choices.

• unreliable narrator
• morally grey

Historian Dr. Cesar Vidal examines the history of democracy, its expressions, and its failures, alongside the current global threats to its existence. He connects the collapse of national sovereignty with issues like global warming, illegal immigration, gender ideology, and national debt, all tied to a globalist agenda. Vidal details the foundations of modern democracy, the risks it faces, and the specific threats posed by this agenda and its promoters.

In "Thus Was Solitude," a woman confronts her profound isolation, feeling like an alien cast out from the world with no explanation. Inheriting her mother's belongings, she finds her own loneliness mirroring her mother's past. Her attempt to uncover her husband's infidelity leads her to a deeper existential crisis, prompting her to hire a private investigator to watch her instead.

• unreliable narrator

Antonio Muñoz Molina reflects on the profound changes brought about by the economic crisis, examining how it reshaped society and individual lives. This work delves into the fragility of what was once considered stable, offering a critical perspective on contemporary social and economic conditions. It's a contemplative exploration of the forces that dismantle established norms and the human experience within such upheaval.