Her family, weathered by years of neglect, corruption and psychological torment, live in a claustrophobic environment that causes Andrea to develop her own eccentric behaviour in an effort to escape theirs. She arrives three hours late and thus finds her way to the Calle de Aribau alone in the dead of night, arriving at the dilapidated apartment to be met by an apparition, a strange gathering of eccentric characters. The book was finally published in 2007, three years after the death of its author.Īndrea has spent a dreamy summer in her hometown, looking forward to coming to Barcelona to study and spend time with her family she hasn’t seen in years and barely remembers. Born in Barcelona, she moved to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands when she was 2 years old and like her protagonist Andrea, moved to Barcelona when she was 18 to study literature and philosophy.Įdith Grossman, who also translated Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa (who writes a brilliant introduction in the opening pages) puts Nada into English in what Alberto Manguel describes as “a fluid translation”, one that I read as if it has been written in English as its first language.

Nada was written by Carmen Laforet when she was 23 years old and first published in Spanish in 1945. “Isn’t it brilliant?” she said.īook envy hardly had time to rear its head before my Uncle said “but Claire, you must read this too” and rather than it returning to its owner, this book came home with me, delighted to be off the shelf once more, this time travelling closer to the territory where it was conceived. Urn:oclc:827983520 Republisher_date 20140703033915 Republisher_operator Scandate 20140702062022 Scanner a recent visit to London, my Uncle was handing this book back to the friend who lent it to him and I listened intrigued as they discussed its merits. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 21:48:17 Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA1120209 Boxid_2 CH120121114-BL1 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City Barcelona Donorįriendsofthesanfranciscopubliclibrary Edition 5a ed.

Nada by carmen laforet in english