Thanks to everyone who visited while I was away in Germany. I did a lot of reading and have taken plenty of notes for future reviews.
Now on to today’s book, Stone in a Landslide by Maria Barbal. Spanish Catalonia has a very distinctive culture of its own, with its own language, Catalonian, and many traditions and festivals unique to the region. I have long had an interest in the Pyrenees, not least because of the folk songs adapted for guitar by Miguel Llobet, and recently made popular by Catalan musicians like Toti Soler and Ester Formosa. If any readers have Spotify on their computer, then I would recommend listening to the album L’Arxiver De Tortosa, particularly songs like La Filadora (The Spinner) and Rossinyol (The Cuckoo). You will rapidly get a good impression of difficulties for an English speaker of the Catalonian language!
It was a pleasure to read Stone in a Landslide, the ficitional life-story of a Catalonian woman living in a village deep in the Pyrenees. The author, Maria Barbal, is a highly regarded Catalan writer and I can only admire the translators Laura McGloughlin and Paul Mitchell who have done such a good job of translating the harsh tones of this difficult language into sparse but elegant English. The translation was supported by a grant from the Institut Ramon Llull who support the translation of works from original Catalan
The story is told in the first person by Conxa (real name Concepcion but whose family evidently needed something shorter in a noisy household to call out to one of their six children). Conxa is now an old lady of 80 and looks back on her life, reflecting on the events that shaped her and reluctantly accepting what has been a difficult journey for her. The voice the author gives her is totally convincing and changes through the book reflecting the innocence of childhood, the griefs and suffering of the years of the Civil War and the resignation of an old woman far from happy with life in the modern world. Continue reading Review: Stone in a Landslide – Maria Barbal
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