El jardín vertical

A country ethically and morally shattered, besieged by an economic crisis, unemployment and political corruption… This novel’s protagonist, Daniel, a middle aged man, fed-up by the circumstances in which he finds himself, decides to carry out a crazy and very risky plan, which outcome the reader will not discover till the end of the novel. Set in a Madrid torn by the crisis and the government’s cut backs, the novel sums up the last fifty years of Spain and offers an accurate picture of the present, in which political degradation seems to harbor reminiscences of the late Francoist and transition-to-democracy period.

With unusual forcefulness and in spite of its poetic wrapping, the author creates a protagonist worthy of Cela, Camus or Rulfo. The stark reality of Pascual Duarte, the nihilism and solitude of Mersault, and the magic realism of Pedro Páramo find a synthesis here in personage who is a clear plea against repressive power and is in favor of liberty, justice and human dignity.