El sueño de la razon (The dream of reason)
by Berna Gonzalez Habrour
Description
DASHIELL HAMMETT PRIZE 2020 (Best Spanish crime fiction)
Can death be a form of art?
A literary tribute to Goya’s black paintings.
Commissioner Ruiz returns to Madrid to prepare her defence. She has been suspended from the force. The city’s local holiday is in full swing and the banks of the Manzanares River are thronged with people. But the appearance of a series of animal corpses following a fixed pattern is the first sign of a problem that will soon leave another lethal mark: what appears to be the ritual murder of a young art student at one of the dams that controls the flow of the river. And it won’t be the only one. The police investigate a range of hypotheses, but events begin to point towards a series of scenarios that will lead Commissioner Ruiz to the legacy of Goya, connecting a plot that is extremely disturbing – and difficult to unravel. Can death imitate art? Can madness become a form of creativity? Which is more important: life, transcendence or freedom? Without her team, her uniform, her pistol, María Ruiz is forced to confront a highly intelligent adversary, one who is driven by obsession and will stop at nothing to manipulate those around him. A chilling journey through a territory where mental disorder becomes obsession, to a point where death is considered a form of art.
More Information
Rights Information
Rights available worldwide except for Germany.
Audiovisual rights available.
Marketing Information
DASHIELL HAMMETT PRIZE 2020 (Best Spanish crime fiction)
Launching of the book at the Prado Museum
3rd edition
Endorsements
“What a touch of genius to make Goya the protagonist of a thriller set in the 21st century! The reader of this novel is in for an absolute treat.” - Luisgé Martín
“Commissioner Ruiz is a brilliant police procedural, narrated with rhythm and pace, packed with action, and full of characters who are all too believable.” - Paco Camarasa
“A first-rate novel, full of suspense, bang up to date, offering an inside view of Spain, with Francisco de Goya in the background, and excellent writing on every page.” - Manuel Vilas
“Berna G. Harbour’s Madrid is a city of timeless spaces inhabited by modern-day phantoms of the opera. A novel that provides both pleasure and food for thought.” - Marta Sanz
“You won’t be able to put this book down, even after you’ve read the final page. Berna González Harbour entraps us with her prose and her stories, mercilessly depriving her readers of sleep until they have reached the end. Her writing is magic, it’s literature, it’s noir.” - Claudia Piñeiro
“In book after book, Berna González Harbour has gradually mapped out a territory all of her own, a territory of light, of fear and of long walks in the dark” - Carlos Zanón
“Berna González Harbour has drawn on her experience as a journalist, transforming her detailed knowledge of the police into fiction and literature.” - Lorenzo Silva
“Commissioner Ruiz is an engaging character who has earned herself a permanent place in Spanish literature.” - Fernando Marías
Reviews
Press clipping available on demand.
Author Biography
Berna González Harbour is a crime author, creator of Commissioner Ruiz and one of the “nine new discoveries” of Spanish crime writing, according to Paco Camarasa. She was shortlisted for the Dashiell Hammett Prize with Las lágrimas de Claire Jones [The Tears of Claire Jones] (Destino), won the Booksellers of Cantabria Award, and has been a member of numerous literary juries. She is also a journalist, political analyst and cultural commentator. She is an assistant director of Spain’s leading daily, El País, where she has edited the literary supplement Babelia and been a special envoy to a number of conflict zones. She directs the programme ¿Qué estás leyendo? [What are you reading?], contributes to the cultural magazine Zenda, and is a regular participant in the talk show Hora __ on Cadena Ser radio
Copyright Information
© Berna Gonzalez Harbour, 2019 ; Translation rights arranged by DOS PASSOS Agencia Literaria. All rights reserved
Agencia Dos Passos
We represent a wide range of Spanish authors (fiction, non-fiction, YA/children's lit.). From established award-winning novelists to outstanding new voices, we are committed to promoting and defending our authors’ interests worldwide, in all formats.
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publisher/Imprint Planeta / Destino
- Publication Date March 2019
- Orginal LanguageSpanish
- ISBN/Identifier 9788423355310
- Publication Country or regionSpain
- FormatPaperback
- ReadershipGeneral
- Publish StatusPublished
- Original Language TitleSpanish
- Original Language AuthorsSpanish
- Edition3th edition
- Copyright Year2019
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