Her debut novel, Nada, was awarded the first Premio Nadal in 1944.She is also wrote a collection of short stories and five other novels, including Al doblar la esquina (Around the Block) and La mujer nueva (The New Woman), which won Spains National Prize for Literature in 1955. U.S.-bound fans of European lit will welcome this Spanish gothic to the States with open arms and a half-exasperated, “What took you so long?†(Feb. Carmen Laforet (1921-2004) had a profound impact on Spanish literature. To compliment their frenetic vignettes, Andrea's narration is gorgeously expressive, rippling with emotion and meaning. The violent Uncle Juan and his manic wife, Aunt Gloria the crusty, devilish, magnetic violinist, Uncle Román insanely embittered Aunt Angustias and an oblivious, antiquated grandmother all offer up their own chaotic storylines, while perfectly balancing Andrea's stoic, ruminative personality. But the narrative is no less interesting because of this, as it leaves plenty of room for the larger-than-life characters that occupy the house to fully flex their gross vitality and charming decrepitude. Although Andrea is young, she isn't adventurous or carefree like others her age, and much of the action takes place within her extended family's dank flat or along the melancholic city streets immediately surrounding it. The story follows 18-year-old Andrea as she spends a year with crazy relatives in a squalid, ramshackle townhouse on Calle de Aribau in post–civil war Barcelona. Available in English for the first time in the U.S., Laforet's moody and sepulchral debut novel, a 1945 Spanish cult classic, has been given new life by acclaimed translator Grossman.
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