Paraíso inhabitado

Deserted paradise

Author:

Ana María Matute [1]

Year of Publication:

2008

Pages:

350

ISBN:

978-84-233-3928-0

Genre:

Literature

AUTUMN

2009

Season:

AUTUMN 2009

Adriana is a young daydreamer who lives in the strict, grey world of her parents, who no longer show any affection to each other. They live in a big house in Madrid where Adriana searches for hiding spots so she can spy on the adults, who are “giants” in her eyes. Adriana’s gaze is marked by innocence, astonishment and the threat posed by the giants’ world, a world where everything is ruled by an order and logic that escape her.
So Adriana creates a paradise of her own where, sheltered and protected by the maids, she will forge a friendship with Gavrila, a Russian boy who becomes her kindred spirit and shares in the secrets of that magical world they both dwell in. A world so different from the asphyxiating adult atmosphere in the period leading up to the Spanish Civil War.

Publishing rights available from

Company:

Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells

Address:

Avda. Diagonal 580. 08021 Barcelona. Spain

Contact:

Gloria Masdeu

Phone:

(34) 93 200 89 33

E-mail:

ag-balcells@ag-balcells.com [2]

Countries where the rights have been sold:

Bulgaria, Riva, Not yet published
Alemania, Hoffmann und Campe, Not yet published
Portugal, Planeta Manuscrito, Not yet published
Serbia, Laguna, Not yet published

Additional information

Press reviews:

“A simple yet at a time disturbing story about the magic-drenched breakup of childhood” - La Vanguardia

“A hymn to imagination and fantasy” - ABC

“This warm, sad novel is a compendium of the author's efforts to reassert her rebelliousness at an advanced age, and again leaves a pessimistic message about life with its unpretentious, yet deep and serious way of telling.” - El Mundo

“Matute returns to the world of childhood, this chasm-deep closed universe, which in reality she has never gone far from and, after this masterly novel, no pen, no matter how solvent, will ever address without risking failure. Written with translucent language, with simplicity - the difficult easiness of essence- which drives away the superfluous in order to create a narrative universe of overwhelming intensity, Paraíso inhabitado brings the best of Ana Maria Matute back in a novel to appear among the classics of our literature..” - Ana María Moix, El País

“Those who talk of a devaluation of literature in a cybernetic society such as this, should immerse themselves in reading a book so full of emotions, and so full of experiences as Paraíso inhabitado.” - Mercurio

“It is a masterpiece; reading it we are invaded by the feeling that, some time, we too were part of this uninhabited, between dark and wonderful, paradise.” - ABC