Bruno Blog

This week, like last, we’re dealing with a historical novel. These past few months, we have been lucky enough to bring several great novels of this genre into the publishing market. In Blood Ties , Ramon Gasch and Teresa Sagrera work hand in hand to give voice to war heroines who were unknown up until recently. They were called ‘Las Bárbaras’ and were the women who fought for Gerona during the Napoleonic siege.

Marta lives happily with her husband and son in 1808 Gerona when, one fine day, a group of Napoleonic soldiers enter the city. Initially, it looks like a friendly enough entrance…

When the Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed, Spain and France agreed that they would unite to conquer Portugal and then split the territory among them. But to think that Napoleon would pass through the peninsula simply as an ally without attempting to conquer it was naive. The city of the four rivers was the victim of a great tragedy: a siege that caused thousands of deaths and the destruction of a large part of the city. Marta, like so many other women, is forced to face a merciless war and, after overcoming the initial shock, decides that she will do whatever it takes to defend and protect her world.

Blood Ties speaks of the often forgotten but decisive role women played in the defense and recovery of the city, and how they heroically organized themselves into a military company called ‘Las Bárbaras’. They stood out from the crowd because they wore a blood-red ribbon tied to their left arm, and because they fought fiercely to defend their city and their people.

This is yet another novel about brave women who, once again, demonstrate that although their role has always been in the background, they are able to do things which society does not even imagine to defend what they consider of their own. These two authors have a great mastery when it comes to writing about historical characters, and have managed to create a fast-paced, impactful novel, which will undoubtedly please lovers of the genre.

Writing this blog every week is not as easy as it may seem. For me, all my authors are equally important and each work we publish has a beautiful story behind it. It’s a <<we start from scratch>> situation every time for us. We start to build something not knowing how it will turn out in the end, like someone making clay figurines who starts with a mere piece of dough and shapes it to his liking to get a beautiful shape at the end of the process. Our job as an agency is similar, because with each author we represent, we open a different box, full of ideas and words, which will likely result in a new book. Each box is a different and wonderful world, and I can only say that it is a luxury to be part of this process, and it is what makes my job so enjoyable.

José Antonio lives in Rota, so I don’t get to see him much, but I think his writing is magical. When we received his first novel, Life in a minute, we immediately fell in love with it, but when he told me about the subject matter of The War Godmother, which he has just published with Ediciones B, it blew me away. Throughout the book, José Antonio introduced me to a historical figure which I was personally unaware of. I am talking about the so-called war godmothers, who played an important role in the Spanish Civil War.

Madrid, 1936. Aurora has just come of age and works as a nurse in a turbulent city that is barely holding up against fire and war bombs. In this violent climate, she decides to contribute to the cause on the Republican front and begins to write letters to a young soldier, Teófilo, thus becoming —like many other women of the time— a war godmother. In each letter, the two of them will find a refuge in which to express the fears and secrets they cannot say aloud, while discovering a love they had never imagined. However, in a war full of intrigue and espionage, where everyone is a potential suspect, the written word can become the most dangerous weapon…

Years later, isolated in the silence of the post-war period, Teófilo finds out that Aurora is still alive and does not hesitate to try to recover the person who, amidst fire and gunpowder, made the feelings os love, calm and peace blossom within him. This story is a tribute to all those women who used words as one uses rifles and managed to bring strength and hope to soldiers in the war front. Can a love letter change your life?

The power of words is infinite. I know it might sound romantic, or even corny, but transmitting and receiving news through writing had a certain charm. I have always loved being able to express my feelings in my own handwriting. I sent many letters to friends, and even to boyfriends from my teenage years, which I still keep. And that effort, to spill your feelings on paper, were moments that one enjoyed with oneself. It is something very real, and at the same time very beautiful. It is one of the reasons why giving a voice to war godmothers was so necessary.

José Antonio manages to do it with such skill that this novel deserves to be widely read. Every line catches your attention and doesn’t let you go. Once again, I congratulate this author, who outdoes himself with his second novel, even though the first one was already at a very high level. If you haven’t read it yet, you can start with either of the two, because it will certainly leave an impression and you will have a wonderful time, which is what summer reading is all about.

Writing this blog post makes me very happy for three reasons. The first is that Laia Perearnau, a new author of the agency, and, therefore, a new voice, wins a prestigious award such as the Nèstor Luján, a prize par excellence for historical novels. The second reason is the fact of having received a literary award, since as an agency we are always excited about it. The last reason is that the story in Francesca de Barcelona has a brutal hook, and my intuition tells me that it will bring us much joy.

Barcelona, year 1382. Francesca is a fifteen-year-old Christian girl who helps her grandmother, Bonanada, who works as a midwife. Her grandmother teaches her the secrets of the trade and introduces her to the world of healing plants, but that is not enough for the protagonist. Although she lives in a very humble environment, she is determined to become a doctor and a surgeon. There is only one problem: this profession is exclusively for men and making a place for herself is almost impossible.

Thanks to her profession as a midwife, she often visits Callo (the Jewish quarters of the city). There she meets Astruc, a Jewish boy who comes from a family of doctors and wants to study medicine. The two will come to an agreement to share their knowledge: Francesca will teach him everything she knows about plants and he will give her access to his books. But medicine is not Francesca’s only passion: she is in love with Martí, her childhood friend, and this love will mark the transition into adult life, which will be full of obstacles, love, betrayal and passion.

Based on a true story and with an absolutely dazzling narration, Francesca de Barcelona skillfully takes us into 14th century Barcelona, a time when diseases were wreaking havoc among the population. In this novel, Laia Perearnau creates a moving account of the life of an extraordinary woman, full of determination, who fought tirelessly against the limits imposed on women of her time.

I think it is an ideal novel to read this summer and be very satisfied, because we already know the success of medieval times, the city of Barcelona and a brave woman as a protagonist, who really existed. For lovers of historical novels, Francesca de Barcelona will be a cocktail in which no ingredient is missing.

I have known Nadia for many years. I still remember when she joined the agency, with a certain distrust, but with a clean and brave look. Since then, we have worked and been through a lot together. I can say that Nadia is a special author for me. I admire her for her courage, for the way she loves her people and her Catalan parents, for how she appreciates Catalonia, that welcomed her, and for how she has never stopped fighting for what she believes in, for the women, for her people, and for peace. This book is a brutal account of what she thinks and what she has done and wants to do in order not to throw in the towel even if the world has gone backwards; even if her country is once again under Taliban power; even if it seems that everything she has achieved has been useless.

Dreaming of peace begins in August 2021. Afghan narrator and activist Nadia Ghulam, seeing the Taliban advancing in Afghanistan, begins to move desperately to help her own people. These pages were born after conversations between Nadia and journalist Ariadna Oltra, in which they talked about how she and her family have lived this last year, what she had to do to bring part of her family to Spain and what those who have not been able to leave Kabul are experiencing. The story of a few, and yet, the reality of thousands of Afghan families and other places in the world.

That same month of August, the media bombarded us with shocking images of men falling out planes as they desperately tried to flee the occupation. Months later, no one is talking about it, nor about those who were able to flee and who have been welcomed in different parts of the world. Nadia’s voice is the voice of all of those people. That Afghan girl who pretended to be a boy for ten years to have the rights she was denied as a woman, has been living in Barcelona for sixteen years. Her life goal and that of these pages is to help the women of her country so that they can continue their studies and become “agents for peace”, to expand in occupied Afghanistan.

Thank you, Nadia: for not losing hope and for continuing to fight against everything and everyone. Unfortunately, the world we live in is not as many of us would like it to be, but there are people like you who always make it better.

This year at the London Book Fair there was a clear trend. Publishers everywhere were looking for rom-coms, which have been around forever and have finally achieved a high place among literary trends, and deservedly so. Fantasy is also making a strong comeback, but all publishers agreed that the non-fiction genre has taken hold and is growing exponentially. For this reason, I would like to recommend Prosperidad, Lola Sorribes’ newest book. Sorribes is a renowned therapist with over thirty years of experience who has always been interested in discovering the secret codes behind the materialization of abundance.

After years of practice and research, she managed to uncover the secret of abundance through what she calls the Seven Powers, a concept which she explains and develops in this manual of true prosperity. This book contains the keys to access a wonderful “spiritual wifi” and to achieve abundance in your life. Reading this book will feel like caressing your soul. You will be able to benefit from its divine information, which will activate your consciousness and guide you on your inner journey towards a more prosperous life. Through the Seven Powers and a very useful series of practical exercises to obtain results in the shortest time possible, you will be able to enjoy the blessings that will mark a before and after in your life. This will turn you into an abundant and immensely happy person.

I know that there are people who do not believe in this type of philosophy of life, but Lola gives us real examples and simple exercises, which are easy to put into practice. You’ll never know if you never try, and you will be able to see very substantial changes in your life. We are not only talking about economics here. Prosperity also means wealth and personal well-being.

I recommend reading this book and using it as the powerful tool it is: you can discover how to be prosperous in everything in life, and therefore live fully. That is the goal of most human beings, or at least it should be, because as the song goes: YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE.