Novels Set In Spain, Any Recommendations?

[Margaret Butterworth]

I've just finished Laurie Lee's book. The writing is beautiful. It serves to remind us that there is more to Spain than the Camino!

 

[Kevin Considine]

La catedral del mar, set in Barcelona area at the time the Camino must have started. Gives a good impression of the era and of how things may have been for pilgrims back then.

Also La costurera, set during wwII.

Both have been translated to English.

I agree with Anemone. La Catedral Del Mar is an excellent historical novel that explains all the various people involve with planning, designing and building a great Cathedral during the Middle Ages. It depicts the various classes of people well and is set during the Inquisition.

 

[Prentiss Riddle]

I’m furiously taking notes from this great thread!

Meanwhile I asked an overlapping but slightly different question over here:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...te-books-and-writers-from-spain-anyone.53703/

 

[DougWilliams55]

I love to read books set in places I am planning a trip to. Currently I am reading "shadow of the wind" which is set in Barcelona. (Which I am enjoying). Have any to recommend?

So many options, so little time! I can recommend 'Barcelona' by Robert Hughes (a wonderful history, very engaging), 'Homage to Catalonia' by George Orwell (civil war reporting), and 'In the Night of Time' by Antonia Munoz Molina (a novel set in the time of the civil war, a fascinating read).

 

[DougWilliams55]

Perhaps not quite on your topic, a favourite read this year has been The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal. Not every critic agrees with her view, but it is such an interesting approach given current issues and our interest in the Camino.

I was planning to mention this book in my reply to this thread .. I really enjoyed this book. Yes, controversial with some, but very thought provoking in light of current issues, and an important perspective on an important period of Spanish history.

 

[Kanga]

Anyone walking through Burguette (immediately after Roncesvalles) and Pamplona - The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. He wrote it largely while staying in Hotel Burguette (you can ask to stay in his room) and it is set in that area and in Pamplona. Now considered by many to be Hemingway's best book.

 

[DougWilliams55]

I was planning to mention this book in my reply to this thread .. I really enjoyed this book. Yes, controversial with some, but very thought provoking in light of current issues, and an important perspective on an important period of Spanish history.

To many 'importants'. Can you tell I like this book?

 

[oursonpolaire]

Not a novel, but entertaining (at least for carnivores) is John Barlow's Everything But the Squeal, as he visited all of the Galician local fiestas centring on the various parts of pigs, tails, trotters, etc., to which he was driven by his tolerant vegetarian wife.

 

[Rick M]

Ummmmm...........there was an obscure 20th century writer that set a couple of stories in Spain. His name was Ernest Hemmingway.

 

[malingerer]

Ummmmm...........there was an obscure 20th century writer that set a couple of stories in Spain. His name was Ernest Hemmingway.

hmmmmmmmmmmm and Laurie Lee?

Samarkand.

 

[C clearly]

Ummmmm..........

hmmmmmmmmmmm and Laurie Lee?

Sorry! I accidentally split off the 107 replies from the original question posed in 2017. The thread has been reunited now, and put into the Books section.

 

[stevov]

Laurie Lees 'As I walked out one midsummer morning' is one of my all time favourites. Then read the sequel 'a rose for winter'...a sense of Spain not so distant when I first visited Spain I the mid 70's. Nowadays tho Lees Spain is almost unrecognisable.

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

The first part of Isabel Allende's novel "A Long Petal of the Sea" is set in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War.

 

[rappahannock_rev]

The Cypresses Believe in God by Jose Maria Gironella.

 

[filly]

How about George Brenan’s ‘South from Granada’ as preparation for the Camino Mozarabe. A real treat but more a memoir than a novel.

 

[CatPhillips]

April in Spain by John Banville (A mystery set in San Sebastian, just came out in October, entertaining)

Above the Rain by Victor Del Arbol (crime fiction)

Barcelona Dreaming by Rupert Thomson (recently published, three stories intertwining, "exploring themes of addiction, racism, celebrity, immigration, and self-delusion")

Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner (a young American in Madrid on a fellowship, this story if funny and tragic)

 

[Coltim]

I love to read books set in places I am planning a trip to. Currently I am reading "shadow of the wind" which is set in Barcelona. (Which I am enjoying). Have any to recommend?

A classic is. As I walked out one Midsummer morning by Laurie Lee. He left his small village in Gloucestershire England, and walked to southern Spain, writing about his travels in a very poetic way
I expect you have read that one by now. If not please do!
I am trying to track down a book. I read many years ago, written by an English man who travelled from the coast in southern Spain to the villages up in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada. I think it was published in the 1930s or maybe 50s. It is very interesting and beautifully written. Tim preston. Coltim321@gmail.com

 

[islandwalker]

I am trying to track down a book. I read many years ago, written by an English man who travelled from the coast in southern Spain to the villages up in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada. I think it was published in the 1930s or maybe 50s. It is very interesting and beautifully written.

Tim, is the book you are looking for possibly The Road from Ronda or Sierras of the South, both by Alastair Boyd? They are wonderful books about his travels by horse through the mountains of Andalucia. Or was it Gerald Brenan's classic South from Granada?

 

[Flowintonature]

I love Shadow of the Wind! Some other books I've enjoyed that are set in Spain are "Fountains of Silence" by Ruta Sepetys and the "Alchemist" by Paolo Coelho.

 

[dick bird]

Manuel Rivas’ ‘The Carpenter’s Pencil’ or Javier Cercas ‘The Soldiers of Salamis’.

 

[henrythedog]

Whilst it doesn’t meet the criterion of being set in Spain, Laurie Lee’s first book ‘Cider with Rosie’ is superior by far and and significantly more accurate.

 

[rappahannock_rev]

San Manuel Bueno, Martyr, by Miguel de Unamuno.

(Available in many English editions, btw)

 

[CJKColorado]

Non-fiction: I would add Richard Wright's Pagan Spain. A quite remarkable travel memoir from an important mid 20th Century American writer traveling in post civil war, then fascist Spain. Richard Wright is probably most famous for Native Son. He was also an accomplished essayist and non-fiction writer. In addition to reading Pagan Spain, consider reading also the autobiographical essay The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch and his photo essay 12 Million Black Voices. For Americans, this will bring Pagan Spain to life in a compelling, often challenging way.

Poetry: Golpe a golpe, verso a verso... It's hard to beat Antonio Machado's Caminante no hay camino. Not specifically about the Camino de Santiago, it's a broader life reflection. Still, worth reading - particularly as the Camino de Santiago prompts life reflection for most pilgrims (myself included).

 

[henrythedog]

A classic is. As I walked out one Midsummer morning by Laurie Lee. He left his small village in Gloucestershire England, and walked to southern Spain, writing about his travels in a very poetic way
I expect you have read that one by now. If not please do!
I am trying to track down a book. I read many years ago, written by an English man who travelled from the coast in southern Spain to the villages up in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada. I think it was published in the 1930s or maybe 50s. It is very interesting and beautifully written. Tim preston. Coltim321@gmail.com

Try Gerald Brenan, ‘South from Granada’. His trip was circa 1919, but I think it’s what you’re looking for. Published 1957. (Edit 2 - found it!)

I’m reasonably certain I’ve a copy in my library, but I can’t lay my hands on it at the moment.

(Edit: if he was travelling north, I’m wrong - but nevertheless the Brenan’s book’s very good)

 

[islandwalker]

You can visit Yegen, the village Brenan lived in, and see his house and walk the trails he wrote about. It's on the GR 7 if you are walking or the TransAndalus if you are cycling.