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About the author
Cristina Sánchez-Andrade has degrees in law and mass media, and writes for various Spanish newspapers and literary magazines as a critic and book reviewer. Her third novel, Your King No Longer Walks this Earth, won the prestigious Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz literary prize at the 2005 Guadalajara International Book Fair in Mexico, and has been translated into English and Portuguese. The Winterlings, her latest novel, has gained outstanding critical acclaim, and was a Herralde Novel Prize finalist in 2013.Samuel Rutter is a writer and translator from Melbourne, Australia. He has translated contemporary authors including Daniel Sada, Hernán Ronsino, and Matías Celedón and his work has been recognised by English PEN. He is based in Nashville, TN, where he is a MFA Candidate in fiction at Vanderbilt University.
Summary
Finalist for the Herralde Novel Prize
Two sisters return to the small parish of Tierra de Chá in Galicia after a long absence, to the former home of their grandfather, from which they fled when they were just children.
At Tierra de Chá, nothing and everything has changed: the people, the distant little house in the rain, the acrid smell of gorse, the flowers, the crops, the customs. Yet the return of the sisters disrupts the placid existence of the villagers, stirring up memories best left alone.
When news arrives that the famous American actress Ava Gardner will be shooting a movie in Spain and that lookalikes are wanted, the sisters have a chance to make their dreams come true. But the past is catching up with the present, and the family secrets that led to the Winterlings’ return won’t stay buried for long.
Foreword
What are the women concealing? Why does nobody want to talk about Don Reinaldo? Why are they called The Winterlings?
Additional text
‘The enigmatic characters and storylines prod the reader about the deeper, darker aspects of what it is to be human. Sánchez-Andrade’s writing is lyrical, never dull, and a joy to read. Details and dialogue are spare and well-chosen—tragic, humorous, often jarring. Every page contains surprises. The Winterlings is hard to put down and harder to forget.’
