A MAN OF HIS WORD

A memoir belonging to that category of books on mourning where the blazing beauty of love and remembrance keeps at bay the worst of griefs. A must read for Didion fiends.

Description:
“The only way I have found to balance memory and oblivion is to turn Cometa’s presence into a second skin. It happens to me often, with him. Where is he? I think, not realizing that I am wearing him. Like your reading glasses. You look for them—you can’t do without them—and suddenly you realize that you’re wearing them around your neck. That is exactly it. A memory so present that it resembles oblivion.”

Refering to him by his nickname Cometa—Catalan for “comet”—, Imma Monsó tells us about the sudden loss of her husband and, using an original structure combining A chapters —“A for affection, amusement, acceptance”—and B chapters—“B for barbarous, brutal, bare”—she bears witness to her life with him, and to her life without him. On a par with those by Didion or Oates, this memoir falls into that category of books on mourning where the blazing beauty of true love and moving remembrance keeps at bay the worst of griefs.

Winner of multiple literary awards—Premio Internacional Terenci Moix, Premio Maria Àngels Anglada, Premio Salambó—A Man of His Word is the first work available in English by Imma Monsó, one of the best contemporary Catalan writers.


About the author:
Imma Monsó (Lleida, 1959) is a Catalan fiction writer and contributor to the main Spanish and Catalan newspapers like El País and La Vanguardia. All her literary works have been translated into Spanish, and most of them to several languages. She has received numerous awards, such as the Premio Tigre Juan (1997), for her first novel No se sap mai, the Premio Ciutat de Barcelona (2004) for her collection of stories Millor que no m’ho expliquis and the Premio Ramon Llull (2012) for her last novel, La dona veloç.