Books Burn Badly

It’s time for reviewers and sundry pundits to quit the flattering comparisons with Lorca, Joyce and Garcia Marquez. Manuel Rivas reads like no-one else on the planet…one of those novels to lavish on friends… Manuel Rivas’ sweeping novel, translated into English for the first time, is an undoubted classic * Scotsman *This is an exceptional book by an exceptional writer… a unique literary enterprise * Independent *A novelistic tour-de-force…hauntingly poetic use of language and light touch…Rivas never loses faith in the human ability to overcome the bleakest of situations * Irish Times *His most substantial work to date * London Review of Books *His boldest take yet on the war’s repercussions in his native Galicia… a work of unusual beauty * Financial Times *The author reinvigorates the power of the word, the heritage of stories which pass from generation to generation. – Emma Rodríguez * El Mundo *Manuel Rivas writes with lyrical depth about the burning and pillaging of books whose existences are intertwined with a story of suspense that condemns authoritarianism and extols freedom… A novel that could have been history or biography, but is instead a work of literature written by an author at the height of his powers. – Jordi Gracia * El País *Rivas weaves a tapestry of characters into an event that is largely overlooked in history * Big Issue North *

Manuel Rivas was born in A Coruna in 1957. He writes in the Galician language of north-west Spain. He is well known in Spain for his journalism, as well as for his prize-winning short stories and novels, which include the internationally acclaimed The Carpenter’s Pencil. His works have been translated into twenty languages.

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