Bruno Blog

Reading and writing are two things that seem connected, although they don´t have to be. However, in my own life, they have always been linked because reading was an important part of my childhood, and now it´s part of my life not only as a hobby, but also as my job.  What more could you ask for? And writing is another of my hidden sides, because I actually love to write, but for myself, as a release. WRITING is difficult, it´s an art, but we can all keep little notebooks or diaries. It is a way of capturing the feelings, the emotions, and all the things that, for some reason, affected us inside.

For this reason, I fell in love with Ángeles Doñate´s book, EL ALMA DE LA RADIO (The Soul of the Radio), which Ediciones Urano/Umbriel have just published. It´s a tribute to a radio program that was huge in Spain, which the Spanish readers will recognize, but it could be applicable to any country. There is nostalgia in this intimate, amazingly well-written novel, which tells the story of a radio presenter who replies to love letters on air, as well as the stories of some of her listeners, who cross paths by falling in and out of love, by being poorly treated, or by feeling lonely in the end-of-Francoism Barcelona, when democracy was emerging. When Aurore becomes the new voice of the most-listened radio program, she has a big responsibility. On one hand, she must prevent Elisa – a seventeen-year-old girl who announced she was going to take her own life – to kill herself. On the other hand, she must fill the lives of solitary people like German, who listens to the show daily. But what nobody knows is that Aurora is as unhappy as many of her listeners, and that she´s broken-hearted too. One day, as she wonders what happens with the letters which don´t make it to her show, she discovers the studio burns them. Many of them show an unpleasant reality, full of domestic violence and political repression which the studio doesn´t want to see associated with the program, in order not to lose listeners. Outraged, Aurora takes home as many letters as possible to reply to them on her free time. She wants to help those who need it, no matter what is going on, and whether or not the big shots managing the audience like it. After many years of emotional void, she finds a meaning to her life, which is just listening to others.

With this novel, Ángeles Doñate demonstrates again how much of a great writer she is and how well she knows how to touch our heart. She did so in her first book, EL INVIERNO QUE TOMAMOS CARTAS EN EL ASUNTO (The Winter When We Decided to Act), which has been translated into 8 languages and has been bringing us a lot of joy. Two years after publication, we keep selling it across the world because it is about complicity, honestly and love. In Spain, the pocket edition, published by Ediciones B, is still available and I can´t recommend it enough. It reminds me of the movie Pay It Forward, which I loved. It has become one of my favorite novels, and I feel proud to represent it. I know that we, readers, receive this book with our arms open, and all we can do is to say “Thank you, Ángeles.”

Being an agent is not an easy job. It looks good, it’s pretty, but if I’m being honest, every day I find it more difficult, because you never know which book will stand out and why. Many times I think that it will be ‘that’ one, because you’ve fallen head over heels in love with it, it has kindled a thousand emotions in you… but, at the end of the day, that novel goes unnoticed. As an agent, you must always be on alert, not miss a thing and, furthermore, take care of your authors on a daily basis, to whom you can’t always give them good news and that’s why you must be flexible and handle things deftly. However, these things happen and instinct is the one that takes charge. That’s why sometimes you get it right, and sometimes you don’t. That’s also part of the magic of this crazy business. There are publishers that have missed opportunities that have become bestsellers, agents that have said no to authors that, later, found a good place in the publishing market and have sold millions of copies, and when these things happen, you’re left feeling like a stupid for not having been able to detect it. But it happens, because no one can know for sure if a story is going to work and you’re going to be selling it to everyone. You have to risk, and bet and, most of all, BELIEVE in what you do and why you do it. If you do it like this, with determination, things will come to you, but not everyone has the patience to wait.

It’s not Paz Castelló’s case, an author that we discovered already eight years ago through her wonderful blog. Despite being a good writer and having good ideas, it hasn’t been easy to find a proper publishing house for her, up until Umbriel came and read MI NOMBRE ESCRITO EN LA PUERTA DE UN VÁTER and said to us ‘Yes, I do’. She’s had a lot of patience, and there have also been moments of wanting to give up, but at the end we’ve managed to weather the storm and even enjoy it. Monday was a great day, both for her and for me, because after all the struggles, we found a great publishing house and a great editor for this book, Esther Sanz, to whom I thank for believing in this story and this author, who truly deserves it. As a new part of this odd game, her story is a “criticism” to the publishing business and its way of behaving, but with a darker plotline that keeps you on pins and needles, while showing the hardest part with whom a writer has to live and the solitude, sometimes, with which they walk.

We’ll meet Mauro Santos who, despite his talent, hasn’t been published by any editor. Frustrated, he accepts an agreement with Germán Latorre, a famous TV presenter that turns everything he touches into gold. The deal consists in Mauro selling to him two novels already written –which have been previously rejected by several publishers– and writing for him another two, thus becoming his ghost writer. Under Germán’s name, Mauro’s works turn into international bestsellers, sold worldwide, with dozens of translations and a big response from the critics and the media. It’s then when Germán Latorre’s television channel launches a new program, a talent show to discover new writers. Mauro Sauntos finds there the only opportunity to take back his literary career and start believing in himself once again. But in order to do so he has to turn upside down his life: he must stop writing for Germán Latorre.

A novel with a provoking title, an open criticism weaved in a plotline that you’re not going to stop reading. Perfect for those that like books, crime stories, mystery and the ins and outs of the television world, the show and literary business. You’re going to enjoy it like crazy. A novel that comes after LA MUERTE DEL NUEVE, the first book of the author that lots of people loved, who have always helped us not to give up. Therefore, I want to thank from the bottom of my heart all the readers that each day do your best to help keep books an important part of lots of people’s everyday lives.