RAIN OVER MADRID

Why it is distinctive: Andrés Barba is one of Spain’s most prominent literary writers, rightfully included in Granta’s The Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists issue. Rain Over Madrid is his latest work of fiction, now available in English-language translation.

Description: Rain Over Madrid is comprised by four novellas—“Fatherhood,” “Guile,” “Fidelity,” and “Shopping”—with a common leitmotiv: all of a sudden, someone is finally able to comprehend somebody else’s life. By featuring totally divergent characters in different settings, Barba in these stories tackles issues such as death, the inability to communicate feelings, the sudden eruption of love, fascination for the other, the architecture of desire and the fear of happiness.

Praise for the orginal Spanish edition:
“Andrés Barba needs no introduction. He has his own intentional world perfectly contained and a literary gift that belies his age.” Mario Vargas Llosa
“Barba has perfectly understood the aggressiveness that sometimes defines our romantic encounters and his precise prose provides the perfect vehicle to express it.” Times Literary Supplement
“A new Spanish great, that’s all I need to say.” Lire


About the author:
Andrés Barba (Madrid, 1975) is a Spanish novelist, essayist, translator, scriptwriter and photographer. He is the author of a total of twelve books of literary fiction, non-fiction, photography, arts and children’s literature. Among other prizes he has been awarded the Premio Torrente Ballester de Narrativa (for Versiones de Teresa), the Premio Anagrama de Ensayo (for La ceremonia del porno) and the Premio Juan March de Narrativa (for Muerte de un caballo). He was also shortlisted in the XIX Premio Herralde de Novela (for La hermana de Katia, made into a film a few years after by Mijke de Jong). In 2010 he was featured in Granta magazine as one of the twenty-two best young Spanish-language writers. His works have been translated into ten languages.

Andrés Barba (Madrid, 1975) se dio a conocer con
la novela corta El hueso que más duele (Premio Ramón J. Sender 1997), a la que siguieron La hermana de Katia (finalista del Premio Herralde 2001), Ahora tocad música de baile (2004) y Versiones de Teresa (Premio Torrente Ballester 2005) y un libro de «nouvelles» titulado La recta intención (2002). Sus textos, siempre recibidos con un éxito reseñable de crítica y público, han sido traducidos a cinco idiomas.