The Carpenter's Pencil: A Novel of the Spanish Civil War

By: Manuel Rivas

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Synopsis: The acclaimed Galician author&’s novel of the Spanish Civil War is &“a sincere and beautiful portrait of a brutal, ugly period of Spanish history&” (The Guardian). Novelist and El País journalist Manuel Rivas has been heralded as one of the brightest in a new wave of Spanish authors. Originally written in Galician, his native language, The Carpenter&’s Pencil was a bestseller in Spain and has been published in nine countries. Set in the dark days of the Spanish Civil War, The Carpenter&’s Pencil charts the linked destinies of Dr. Daniel Da Barca, a Republican who cheats death in General Franco&’s prisons; Herbal, an illiterate Falangist and Da Barca&’s shadow; and an unnamed painter with the carpenter&’s pencil, the man who unites them in life and death. It is also the story of Marisa Mallo, loved by both Da Barca and Herbal; Pepe Sánchez, the bolero singer; &“Genghis Khan,&” the wrestler; and the legend of two estranged sisters, Life and Death. All of these and more are bound by the events of the war. And all are rendered, in Rivas&’s skillful hand, with the power of the carpenter&’s pencil, a pencil that draws both the measured line and the artist&’s fanciful vision.