This past month, a case on the Marist Brothers of Sants has been unveiled, against teachers that abused their students at some point. I think it’s so incredible that cases like this still exist, that when I read the new book by Malenka Ramos, QUIMERA. LAS EDADES BÁRBARAS, I couldn’t help but link it to this news, because maybe in our minds, or at least in mine, I always thought of cases like this one as something from the past. Like in Anton’s case, the main character in QUIMERA, who in the 40s, when punishments, isolation cells and even abusing children was normal in boarding schools and orphanages, like the one in San Torbe, where he lives, and where he promised himself to go back when he was a grown man, and tear down the brick walls that had caused him so much pain, and build QUIMERA: a home for all, no matter the condition, sexuality or inclinations. Forty years later Antón writes a letter to each one of the colleagues he lived with, to try to bring them back to QUIMERA so they wouldn’t forget the good times they spent there, because those also existed, and to keep the promise they made when they were kids.

Drama with some erotic hints that shows us how LOVE is above all, and repression isn’t always able to soothe our most free and revolutionary side. You have to be brave, that’s true, but we have to know how to face every moment in life and try to see the positive part in each one of them, as hidden as it may seem. These young men and women have terrible memories of their time in the orphanage, but at the same time, experiences that go deeper than love or friendship. This union makes them strong, because friendship is so valuable that, when properly managed, it can be a great power to destroy even those bad memories that seem to be tattooed on their hearts. Will Antón be able to bring them all together? Will we find out what it is that happened in San Torbe and changed their life forever?

A great novel, a prequel of the trilogy VENGANZA, which Malenka published quite successfully. The readers that are already Quimeric will understand a lot of things that were left unsolved in VENGANZA, and the ones that are not, will want to read the trilogy after reading this one, which is classified as erotic, but has such a strong plot, that it’s the perfect cocktail for strong emotions and brave readers.