Carpenter's Pencil

Manuel Rivas author Jonathan Dunne translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:2nd Jan '03

Should be back in stock very soon

Carpenter's Pencil cover

'A beautiful novel, full of humanity and tenderness' Arturo Perez-Reverte

It is the summer of 1936, the early months of the agonising civil war that engulfs Spain and shakes the rest of the world.

Many years later in post-Franco Spain, a survivor of that period, Doctor Daniel da Barca, returns from exile to his native Galicia, and the threads of past memories begin to be woven together.

It is the summer of 1936, the early months of the agonising civil war that engulfs Spain and shakes the rest of the world. In a prison in the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela, an artist sketches the famous porch of the cathedral, the Portico da Gloria. He uses a carpenter's pencil. But instead of reproducing the sculptured faces of the prophets and elders, he draws the faces of his fellow Republican prisoners.

Many years later in post-Franco Spain, a survivor of that period, Doctor Daniel da Barca, returns from exile to his native Galicia, and the threads of past memories begin to be woven together. This poetic and moving novel conveys the horror and savagery of the tragedy that divided Spain, and the experiences of the men and women who lived through it. Yet in the process, it also relates one of the most beautiful love stories imaginable.

A startling novel. I have rarely read a piece of writing so poetic * Daily Telegraph *
He is an important storyteller because he is sensitive and he has an incredible ear, which, in his fiction, is allied to great ingenuity -- John Berger
I learnt more about the Spanish Civil War from The Carpenter's Pencil...than from any history book I've read -- Gunter Grass

ISBN: 9780099448464

Dimensions: 197mm x 130mm x 11mm

Weight: 130g

176 pages