London Under Snow

From the Bobsphere Blog, full review HERE

Love, loss, hope and wintertime links all these these stories together. Could this mean that human emotions are like winter, sometimes cold and, yet when sheltered warmness can appear. When one reads these well crafted stories, like a blizzard it’s easy to lose oneself. When an author manages to pack emotional clout in such a minimal way one knows that they are n the hands of a master.

Alice Banks, translator. Full review here

London Under Snow is an absolutely stunning collection, brilliantly rendered into English by Suttle. A book of layers–be those real or imagined–that intertwine to form an incredibly moving and lyrical collection of stories on memory and loss, pitting the real against the imagined.

Winston’s Dad Literary Blog. Full review here

A wonderful intro to a new voice lets hope we get to read some more from this thoughtful writer.

Linda Hepworth, NB Magazine. Full review here

I enjoyed the author’s gentle pacing of his stories, his judicious use of metaphors and his lyrical, eloquent prose. Although a sense of melancholy infuses much of his storytelling, as I’ve just indicated, there are some instances of delicious humour and moments when he gently mocks some of the absurdities of the human condition!

In Under 300 Literary Blog. Full review here

That’s what delighted me most about London Under Snow – Llavina’s ability to guide the narrative towards something completely unexpected. He often teased another avenue, suggesting tales of woe, heartache, or presenting us with further mystery. But it would quickly become clear that nothing could veer him from the path our story was destined to tak

From A Life in Books blog (@alifeinbooks), full review here

Llavina’s stories are all about memory, love and lost youth, often tinged with regret and melancholy. Several are narrated by a writer named Jordi, some with a vein of playful humour running through them … All the stories are set against a wintery background, often at Christmas. Should you know a short story fan keen to branch out a little, the very smartly turned out London Under Snow might make an original if not traditional stocking filler.

Alice Tranah (@alitraloon), full review at Ninja Book Box here

The stories in this book are fragments; glimpses into moments of lives, possibly autobiographical, possibly not, of characters confronting moments from their pasts. They vary in tone from the angry, dark and visceral to the incredibly touching and delicate. The voices of the stories are at one moment unemotional and cold, and the next completely compassionate.

Sam Abrams, Diari Ara

In London Under Snow, Llavina recreates the most delicate and intimate aspects of life with great success.

Anna M. Gil, La Vanguardia

More than logical reason, it is only through emotional communication with the world that we can reach the truth. And, so as to reach this truth, we have at our disposal the written word. This is the Nietzschean idea that permeates the poetry and narrative of Jordi Llavina.

Ramon Pla i Arxé, El Temps

What is really admirable in this text is the truly original, fresh way these stories are told.

Javier Blánquez, El Mundo

London Under Snow is a delicate collection of six short stories with a sole common thread: they are all ghost stories.

Lluís Muntada, El Punt

In Jordi Llavina’s latest collection, London Under Snow, snow – or the threat of snow – is ever present, marking a before and after in the lives of the protagonists.

Josep M. Ripoll, Serra d’Or

The tenuous line separating the author from narrator provides these excellent stories with an ambiguity that makes them ever richer with each read.

Vidal Vidal, Presència

This collection is literature at its most interesting; reflecting the bittersweet poetry of human existence and its conflicts.

Bartomeu Fiol, Diari de Balears

In terms of the quality of its language, the expertise of its writing and the exceptional sensibility of its discourse, London Under Snow will in no way disappoint.