Bruno Blog

With this sentence, Paz Castello makes you think about revenge, wounds, and forgiveness. Do we know the value of forgiveness? Forgiveness is one of the most difficult values to bring into reality. It is a personal decision that requires courage and effort, as it contradicts the discomfort we experience when someone hurts us. Forgiveness may even lead to feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion towards the person who hurt you. Forgiving does not mean forgetting or excusing for the damage that has been done to you or making amends with the person causing it. Forgiveness brings the kind of peace that helps us continue with our lives. Buddhism sees forgiveness as a practice to prevent hurtful thoughts that might unsettle our mental health. Buddhism upholds that feelings of hate and resentment leave a long-lasting effect on our karma. In fact, Buddhism promotes the nurture of thoughts that leave a healthy feeling. The Dalai Lama said: «The essence of Christianity and Buddhism is the same: the practice of love, which requires an emphasis on forgiveness and sharing the suffering of others». But what happens when you cannot forgive?

In Paz Castelló’s novel, published by Ediciones B, NONE OF US WILL HAVE MERCY brings out the moment when someone reaches their limit and can’t keep forgiving.

Paz manages two extraordinary female characters, Camila and Nora, two very different women with something in common: they have been used by men and are now unafraid to confront them. Camila used to be that kind of woman that doesn’t know how strong she is until she tests herself. But her life changes when she decides to leave her husband and receives a favorable divorce agreement. While trying to find out her ex-fiancé’s hidden intentions, she will meet Nora, a young student who has kept a terrible secret for years and will turn her world upside down. The special relationship that is born between them will shake their lives. This is their moment: this time around, they won’t forgive. Life tends to offer a second chance for women like Camila to start over. One day, the cage opens and faces a new dilemma: getting out or staying in.

Beyond the genre called «domestic noir», Paz makes us fall in love with two strong female characters who face extreme situations but come out stronger, and new opportunities arise, which would not have happened without their courage to face the difficulties.

The writer Blas Ruiz Grau said about her: “With this novel, Paz Castelló shows she is one of the best noir writers in our country”. To me, Paz is among the authors in the agency who most deserve this step forward since, after a long career of effort and hard work as a writer, she has brought this novel which is a giant step towards gaining more readers than she already has, and to escalate amongst the most consolidated authors of this genre.

Tomorrow we will enjoy a new day of the book. It will be better than last year, that is for sure, given that in 2020 we were in lockdown, even if it seems fictional. But, unfortunately, this is not a usual Sant Jordi and we won’t be able to experience it as before. I hope it is not long before we recover this normality we miss so much.

I miss the crowded streets, the smiling Barcelona, full of books and roses. A day full of emotion and illusions shared with the authors, editors and with everyone who form the great chain of the book. And to keep it alive, we should encourage people to buy books, but not only during the day of Sant Jordi, but by hooking them to the book forever. When you like a reading, you want another and another one after that. It’s a matter of finding the one that leaves good vibes. This is a positive addiction.

From the Sandra Bruna literary agency, we would like to wish everyone a happy day of the book and to claim that bringing a book to our lives means opening the door to thousands of emotions, stories and new concepts. I could not imagine my life without books and, if you can, it means you have not tried them enough.

This Sant Jordi, let yourself be captivated by books. It’s worth it.

Here are our recommendations:

This week we will have a break due to the Easter holidays. The agency will remain closed from Thursday to Monday, but we would like to recommend reading, as it is one of the biggest companies. We cannot travel much, luckily more than a couple of weeks ago, but a book always keeps company, in the good times and bad times, when travelling and when at home… and finding a moment for reading is not only healthy but therapeutical and recommendable for anyone. Here is a link with the novelties of the authors in the agency. We know there is a book for each reader and a reader for each book. Enjoy this break and let us know if you have taken on any of our titles and if you liked it. Read to live.

The blog today is very special for me. Firstly, because thanks to another author, Francesc Soler, I have an author like Miriam Tirado, a reference in parenting and relationships. And thanking someone who helps you is something I have learnt from Miriam. I would like to thank Francesc for giving me the opportunity and Miriam for trusting me with her picture books, as she is an example among parents and, with her book RABIETAS, we have sold over 75,000 copies, after publishing right after the damn pandemic dashed so many plans. However, everything has a bright side and, during the lockdown Miriam used her Instagram to write different stories about how we felt, giving voice to parents, neighbors, grandparents, brothers, lovers, and couples in constant ebullition and, thus, you felt appealed by them and by what the world was experiencing. I can promise I waited every night for her to post the story, as it was a moment of peace for me, in such a hard lockdown. So, I should also thank her for that and for considering putting those stories into a book, with the title of REMOVIDAS, which is what Miriam’s stories made us feel and which has been published by Urano in Spanish and by Rosa dels Vents in Catalan (REMOGUDES). These tangled stories move us and characters who draw strength to keep growing and advancing in a period which has taught us that here and now is all that matters-It has faced us with the famous CARPE DIEM that Robin Williams taught to his pupils in the film, Dead Poets Society.
 
This is a book I recommend to everyone as we have all suffered and are still suffering this strike which has changed our lives, one way or another and is challenging us, but as Miriam says, we should let go and consider that all of this will pass and will have helped us relocate.
 
It does not mean that the change has been easy or that our future will be, many of us have struggled and are working to make it as easy as possible. But these stories will help us reflect and work as mirrors to gather strength, as the last thing we should lose is hope.
 
An efficient book which is well written, sympathetic, and necessary.

Sunday was the first anniversary of the lockdown due to coronavirus. The city of Barcelona was left alone, dim, and empty. I have always liked life in Barcelona and consider the neighborhoods in the city emblematic. Eixample is one of them and walking though it is something I always enjoyed and by reading Berta Jardí’s novel SABER ESTAR, published by Univers, I have been able to feel the Eixample that I like so much.
 
The novel is a great walk through the current Barcelona, a walk from the perspective of its main character a typical bourgeois of Eixample, a lady who reflects on her surrounding, her reality and on the city which used to be hers and is increasingly unknown. She walks and reflects on her personal relations, the siege of tourist and her relationship with her children. She will also remember her husband, deceased some years ago. A lady who is extinguishing. The clash between the past and the present through a very special perspective.
 
A novel with Barcelona as the background and character, from the bourgeois Eixample to the more popular areas. A portrait of Barcelona in the past and a reflection on Barcelona today.
 
Berta Jardí is a fine author who knows how to create wonderful characters and an evocative portrait of our city and its changes. A short and intense novel which will please the general public and will leave a good taste in their mouths.