Books Burn Badly

Resumen del libro

On 19 August 1936 Hercules the boxer stands on the quayside at Coruña and watches Fascist soldiers piling up books and setting them alight. It is a moment which transforms a young group of friends, who just weeks before had spent their days sunbathing beneath the lighthouse, into a broken generation.
Out of this incident during the early months of Spain's tragic civil war, Manuel Rivas weaves a colourful tapestry of stories and unforgettable characters to create a panorama of twentieth-century Spanish history. For it is not only the lives of Hercules the boxer and his friends that are tainted by the unending conflict, but also those of a young washerwoman who sees souls in the clouded river water and the stammering son of a judge who uncovers his father's hidden library.
Rivas' depiction of life under Franco's dictatorship reveals violence and betrayal but also irrepressible humour and love, and stands as a testament to the indomitable freedom of the human imagination.
Few novels become classics during their authors' lifetimes, but in Books Burn Badly Manuel Rivas has produced an astonishing masterpiece. This is a poet's evocation of his native land and its collective memory. As the singed pages fly away on the breeze, their stories live on in the minds of their readers

Biografía del autor

Manuel Rivas (A Coruña, 1957), escritor e xornalista. A súa obra, escrita en galego, está traducida a máis de trinta linguas e publicada polas máis prestixiosas editoras literarias do mundo. Como narrador ten publicado: Todo ben (1985); Un millón de vacas (1989), Premio da Crítica Española; Os comedores de patacas (1991); En salvaxe compaña (1994), Premio da Crítica Galicia; Que me queres, amor? (1996), Premio Torrente Ballester e Premio Nacional de Narrativa; Bala perdida (1996); O lapis do carpinteiro (1998), Premio da Crítica Española, Premio da Asociación de Escritores en Lingua Galega, Premio Arcebispo Xoán de San Clemente, Premio 50 aniversario da sección belga de Amnistía Internacional (2001); Ela, maldita alma (1999); A man dos paíños (2000); As chamadas perdidas (2002); Contos de Nadal (2003); Os libros arden mal (2006), novela, Premio Ánxel Casal ao Libro do Ano, Premio Irmandade do Libro ao Mellor Libro Galego do Ano, Premio da Crítica, Premio Mellor Libro do Ano Libreiros de Madrid, Premio da Crítica Galicia, Premio Losada Diéguez, Premio da Asociación de Escritores en Lingua Galega; Todo é silencio (2010), As voces baixas (2012), O último día de Terranova (2015) e Vivir sen permiso e outras historias de Oeste (2018). Tras do Ceo (Xerais, 2024) é a primeira novela dunha serie histórica que Manuel Rivas vertebra sobre o eixe da caza do home polo home e a depredación da natureza. Tamén é autor dunha extensa obra xornalística e poética en lingua galega. É codirector da revista Luzes . Foille concedido o Premio Nacional das Letras Españolas 2024.