May is traditionally the month that divides the publishing calendar in two, with the Madrid Book Fair as the equator. Before it, publishers place their big bets for the first half of the year on bookstores. After the summer, another push will come with Christmas as the objective. That is why it is a time in which we can begin to take stock of what the year has given us. That is why we select the best books in Spanish of 2024 so far.
The great literary surprises of the season
So far in 2024, we have experienced two publishing phenomena starring young authors, with novels that are out of the ordinary. One is Sara Barquinero, who in Scorpions creates a novel-river with the Internet and conspiracy theories in the background to map contemporary unrest. The other is David Ucles and The peninsula of empty housesa Civil War story mixed with magical realism that its author has been preparing for more than a decade.
Scorpions
Sara Barquinero and Sara Barquinero
LUMEN
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The peninsula of empty houses
David Uclés and David Uclés
Siruela
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Novels that escape the ordinary
But the above are not the only novels this season that explore new forms of expression. In Electric shamans at the sun festival, Monica Ojeda part of a telluric festival to speak to us with touches of extreme imagination about family, love and loss. For its part, Miqui Otero presents us in Orchestra a vision of an entire town through an element that unites rich and poor, and young and old: the music of the orchestra.
Electric shamans at the sun festival
Monica Ojeda and Monica Ojeda
Random House
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Orchestra
Miqui Otero and Miqui Otero
ALFAGUARA
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Novels that delve into family ties
The family, as always, is a fundamental literary theme, from which very different visions of the world unfold. In Atomic heart mother, Agustín Fernández Mallo He departs for the first time from the personal to unfold his universe of connections and happy discoveries. For its part, in Praise of the hands, Jesus Carrasco makes a claim for community, manual work and support between members of the same place.
Atomic heart mother
Agustín Fernández Mallo
Six Barral
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Praise of the hands
Jesus Carrasco and Jesus Carrasco
Six Barral
See file
