Great Spanish novels in English
Amazing novels for quarantine reading
WHILE we're still in lockdown for the foreseeable, unless you're working from home or looking after your kids now that school's out, you'll probably find yourself with time on your hands you're struggling to fill productively. Even if you're retired, and even if you're not involved in sports, volunteering, hobbies, or have much of a social life, you may well have realised now that you can't do it just how often you do, normally, in fact, leave the house for more than a few minutes every couple of days.
Plenty of you will use some of this time to catch up on your reading. If so, how about delving into Spanish fiction and discovering some of our brilliant authors and their works? We have classics galore, of course, including modern classics, but for those of you with 'literature fatigue' who just want something to give your brain a rest from real life, Spain's finally getting the message that the way to get this country to actually read for pleasure rather than for education is to publish novels that require absolutely zero effort.
If your Spanish is already good enough to hold a meaty conversation – about A-level standard will do – you should try reading for pleasure in Spanish. Start with translations of your favourite books or authors in English, the type you can't put down, as it'll feel far less of an effort and you'll learn to enjoy it, not just be capable of it. If you already do read in Spanish, of course, there's plenty out there you'll love, but if you're not at the right level yet, many bestsellers of everything from highbrow literature to beach books are out there in English.
Here are a few you could try.
She's local – from Alicante – and don't be put off by the 'serious historical novel' feel of her book covers. Those of you who are into Dan Brown will love her, and she came about at around the same time as he did, so all her inspiration is her own. Well-researched, unputdownable and fast-moving mysteries, usually set in current times but digging into past eras, are among her top sellers: Checkmate in Amber (El Salón de Ámbar) is a good one to start with as it's short and even includes romance along with its intricate web of a Nazi plot, stolen artefacts and a clever, clandestine criminal gang that a modern young '90s woman has to try to unravel. Then try The Last Cato (El Último Cato), where a pair of sharp-as-knives ancient history experts based in the Vatican unpick a tortuous mystery dating right back to the crucifixion, and which takes them on a hazardous mission through biblical lands. Or The Lost Origin (El Origen Perdido), where the mystery death of a researcher into an extinct Bolivian tribe leads his brother, a crack computer hacker and his colleagues, on a suspense-filled quest from Spain to the depths of the Amazon.
WILD CARD
(Escapa't d'Andorra)
Translated into English from catalán, set partly in Barcelona but mostly in Andorra – a tiny, touristy country which lives off its ski resorts and duty-free stores – the story focuses on Rocío, who moves there from Catalunya to take up a job in a supermarket. Amidst the snowy landscape and bulk-buying of cigarettes and alcohol, Rocío, fed up with the tedium of her work and with her sexist boss, stumbles upon a smuggling network and manages to get one over on said boss with the help of a couple of cocktail waitresses and her sister. A fun amateur sleuth story that drops you into the heart of real life in Spain and Andorra, it's only 162 pages long and will have you rooting for the sharpminded heroine all the way through.
A HEART SO WHITE
(Corazón Tan Blanco)
Set mostly in modern-day Spain and published in 1992, this acclaimed international novel of 280 pages focuses on newlywed Juan who, standing on a balcony in the Cuban capital of La Habana during his honeymoon, has an epiphany after a woman mistakes him for someone else and he eavesdrops on a conversation in his hotel. He always knew his father married three times before he was born, although he had always preferred to be as ignorant about his parents' past as possible. Until now, when he starts to dig into his family's recent history, and uncovers more than he bargained for. Disturbing and poetic in equal measures and at different times, A Heart So White often crops up on 'must-read' lists on social media.
THE HIVE
(La Colmena)
One of the so-called 'Generation of '36' group of artists and writers, this experimental novel was written in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War but not published in Spain until 1955, because of dictator General Franco's censorship. It is based in a Madrid neighbourhood still known today as La Colmena because its blocks of flats resemble a beehive, and focuses on over 300 lowermiddle class characters in 200 short scenes in 'real-life' settings: in bars, on the streets, at home. All of them seem to be working together for the greater good and to realise their dreams – rather like bees – and their soap-opera lives of falling in love, disappointments, betrayal, affairs, debates and heated rows are told in snapshots and in different time sequences. Its value as a novel is in the mere storytelling side, the lives of ordinary humans in the wartime aftermath, rather than in any intriguing plot, and as a social commentary of some of the toughest times in Spanish communities, is unrivalled. Its author won the 1989 Nobel Literature Prize.
Instructions for Saving the World (Instrucciones para Salvar el Mundo) is a tragi-comic exploration of ordinary human suffering in the context of world events, and the small miracles that can arise from it at times, focusing on four main characters: A doctor unfulfilled by his life, an African prostitute, a widowed cabdriver and a middle-aged female biologist and alcoholic. The Cannibal's Daughter (La Hija del Caníbal) sees Lucía trying to solve the mystery of her husband Ramón's kidnap, whilst delving deep into her personal identity and relationships, including those with her parents, in an introspective but swiftly-paced narrative of 368 pages. Absent Love (Crónica de un Desamor), one of Rosa's earliest novels – from 1990 – features an eclectic variety of characters and views, but mostly focuses on a journalist and single mum who tries to help her friends with their problems, ranging from contraception to social isolation, and her falling in love with her newspaper editor and her objective analysis of him and his faults. An author whose modern-day human commentary resounds with us all, personally or by proxy.
THE BEST THING THAT CAN HAPPEN TO A CROISSANT
(Lo Mejor Que Le Puede Pasar a un Cruasán)
So far the only one of Tusset's three novels to have been translated into English, reading this will immediately make you want to learn Spanish so you can plunge into the other two, which are equally as hilarious. Boozy, womanising Pablo 'Baloo' Miralles, who sleeps by day and earns a living as a blogger by night, lives for personal pleasure and is the black sheep of his stuffedshirt financial corporationowning family. Somehow he ends up being likeable to the reader – in the same way as you can't help wanting to be friends with Will Freeman in Nick Hornby's About a Boy or Michael Adams from John O'Farrell's The Best a Man Can Get, both of whom, on paper, sound like guys you'd want to punch in the face if you met them. Pablo Miralles will certainly get your vote when he deals with obstructive, unhelpful staff at Correos by standing on a chair and slowly undoing his trousers – we don't recommend it, but it does the trick. Lots of 'bloke humour', as sharp, observant and witty as the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, Croissant tells how the antihero becomes a reluctant detective when his companychairman brother goes missing. Scenes from it will pop back into your head when you're standing in the queue at Mercadona and you'll get weird looks when you double up and split your sides, so after reading it, try to think of serious stuff like Coronavirus, taxes and Brexit when you go out. Or read it when you know quarantine is about to be lifted, so you can go shopping where nobody knows you for a while.