Spanish Biographies

«Si no me definiera a mí misma por mí misma, me meterían en las fantasías de los demás y me comerían viva». Una niña negra abre los ojos en el Harlem de los años treinta. A su alrededor, un embriagador remolino de transeúntes, bocinas de coches, lámparas de queroseno, la caída de la bolsa, plátanos fritos, historias de la Granada natal de sus padres. Caminando a la escuela pública por las aceras nevadas, se da cuenta de que tiene la lengua trabada, que es legalmente ciega y que sus hermanas mayores la han dejado atrás.

*BERYL AND FRED IN SPAIN now available, containing this book plus Beryl, Fred and a Dog called Ted at a reduced price.* Beryl and Fred Pedley, doyens of the Spanish travelling scene since the publication of Fred’s poignant memoir of their maiden voyage with their faithful dog Ted, are hitting the road in Vernon the camper van once again. Ted, sadly, is no longer with us, but in his place we meet Cheryl, a remarkably talented cat and the author of this volume. After selling their unwanted cottage on the Isle of Lewis, we follow their journey to the isolated village of Puebla de Don ...

The first two books in THE PEDLEY CHRONICLES series: BERYL, FRED AND A DOG CALLED TED: When Beryl and Fred decide to sell up and take a camper van tour around Spain with their lovable Cocker Spaniel, Ted, little do they realise how eventful their poorly planned trip will turn out to be. Intending to tour the whole country thoroughly in an anti-clockwise direction, one unexpected incident after another throws them off track and sees their faithful VW Camper, Vernon, transporting them to the south coast well ahead of any real or imagined schedule. Parked up and ready to enjoy the delights of ...

THREE MEN IN SPAIN is an omnibus edition of: THREE MEN IN A VAN by Jeremy Hastings ONE MAN IN A VAN by Geoff Corless IT’S NOT ABOUT THE VAN by Harry Storrar Please see individual book descriptions and reviews for more information.

ESCAPE TO EXTREMADURA is the candid, entertaining account of a middle-aged Lancastrian’s move to a small town in one of the least populated areas of Spain. After fate brings Brian and Mónica together in a café in Clitheroe, love blossoms and they begin to make plans for the future. His hasty retirement from a long career at a Lancaster furniture company precedes their flight to Llerena, Mónica’s home town, where her pious mother and unruly father await them expectantly. Don Andrés, the ailing patriarch of their ever-expanding family, welcomes the Englishman with open arms, while ...

CHANGING PACE IN SPAIN is the entertaining, informative account of one Englishman’s evolution from a fit but placid retiree into a far more dynamic figure. Jim Fairfield has been living in Villajoyosa on the Alicante coast for a year, enjoying life as best he can on his modest pension. Having got to grips with the language to some degree, he begins to feel dissatisfied with his weekly round of walking, cycling and chatting to his new acquaintances and yearns for some chance event to kick-start a more fulfilling life. This occurs on one of his frequent trips to the city, where he ...

THE OPPORTUNIST – AN ENTERPRISING LIFE IN SPAIN is Craig K. Kirkland’s account of his inventive and ignoble efforts to make his fortune. After a rather unscrupulous apprenticeship in the north midlands he is forced to flee abroad to further his ambitions and in this amusing chronicle he recounts his unethical exploits with brazen honesty. Mr Kirkland’s eye-opening tale of ingenuity and avarice, though not for the overly righteous, makes for an entertaining and thought-provoking read. This book is not intended as an instruction manual and the publisher does not condone the author’s ...

In KENNETH’S QUEST – J.J. Birtwell relates the story of Mr Cooper’s search for his son. When Kenneth’s vulnerable son disappears from his home in Estepona, the Derbyshire builder flies to Spain to find him. Having little to go on, Kenneth and his ex-wife Maite do everything in their power to track the twenty-year-old down, and when young Adam is finally spotted in Alicante, Kenneth sets off to find him, beginning a quest that will take him as far as the northern coast. Following clues gathered through their detective work and chance encounters, Kenneth begins to learn a lot about ...

SPIKE IN SPAIN is the light-hearted story of a peculiar Lancastrian’s relocation to a small town at the foot of the Alicante mountains. An obsessive cyclist and the bane of his long-suffering wife’s life, Spike finds himself booted out of the family home and consigned to a grotty terraced house in Colne. Believing, incorrectly, that an old clubmate has invited him to stay at his Spanish retreat, a spell of lateral thinking by the cycling club president, Pete, leads to Spike’s flight to his old pal Mike’s house instead. As the charitable Mike has already rescued three donkeys and a ...

AN INNOCENT IN SPAIN is the light-hearted account of an unlikely expat’s first months in his new country. Ian Smith might not be the first tubby, middle-aged Englishman to arrive in a small Spanish town, but he’s certainly one of the poorest and most naive. Luckily for him, long-time resident Graham Baker is on hand to help him settle in and somehow survive on his meagre savings. After an initial, potentially calamitous blunder Ian appears to rally, but it’s only a matter of time before he finds himself in dire straits once again. Will he have to return to Lancashire, more penniless ...

*All three books in the series are now available in an omnibus edition under the title THREE MEN IN SPAIN* IT’S NOT ABOUT THE VAN is Harry Storrar’s account of a year spent making multiple trips around Spain with his Belgian wife Laura in their curious camper van, Bambi. After his friend Jeremy described Bambi’s initial north to south journey in THREE MEN IN A VAN, and Geoff followed it up with the extremely imaginative story of his solo adventures in ONE MAN IN A VAN, Laura thought it only right that Harry should complete the cycle by writing a book of his own, with her inestimable ...

¿Quiso Julio César, el gran conquistador de las Galias y de las mujeres de sus enemigos y aliados, coronarse rey de Roma? ¿Fue Augusto, enfermizo y acomplejado, un gobernante maquiavélico? ¿Cómo se convirtió Tiberio en un tirano estrafalario recluido en la isla de Capri? ¿Qué enfermedad mental aquejó a Calígula para que llegara a convertirse en un dios psicópata? ¿Era Claudio tan estúpido como le pintan sus contemporáneos?

Las apasionantes biografías de unas fascinantes mujeres que abandonaron el confort de sus mansiones por una vida nómada, y en ciudades como Bagdad, El Cairo, Damasco o Estambul aún se las recuerda.

Combinando tres facetas fundamentales de la vida de Winston Churchill - su vida privada, su trayectoria políticay bélica, y el contexto histórico en el que ambas se desarrollaron-, Breve Historia de Winston Churchill nos presenta la biografía del político que gobernó Inglaterra durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, pero que, además, luchó en la Guerra del 98, en la Guerra de los Boers, que participó en la Primera Guerra Mundial como Lord del Almirantazgo y asistió al duro proceso de descolonización de Inglaterra.

A partir de la nacionalización de la industria petrolera, por ochenta años Pemex fue el principal sostén de la economía mexicana, una maquinaria generadora de billones y billones de dólares por la producción y venta del oro negro y sus derivados, sólo que, a pesar de ser un bien público, sus ganancias y beneficios se repartieron entre pocas manos.

La vida de Julio Iglesias es mucho más que una colección de efemérides y cifras, es una historia de superación, amor, fama, éxito y redención. Su carrera no es solo el relato de su inigualable triunfo y reinvención, es también la crónica sociocultural de todo un país a lo largo de más de setenta años.

Una historia real de abandono, adopción, trauma y búsqueda de identidad. Encontrado llorando en una casa abandonada, sin nombre, sin explicación, Ernesto Cuevas fue bautizado como “Niño” por el sistema. Así comienza esta poderosa memoria de adopción real, que recorre con crudeza y humanidad el camino de un niño abandonado en busca de pertenencia. Criado en una familia mexicana adoptiva, Ernesto vive entre el amor aparente y el silencio aplastante de los secretos.

Este libro documenta las desapariciones de al menos diez adolescentes - todas estudiantes, con el futuro por delante - en la zona de Ecatepec y Los Reyes Tecámac, en el Estado de México. Lydiette Carrión narra con vértigo la odisea de los padres para encontrar a sus hijas; la precariedad de las investigaciones, realizadas por un sistema policiaco laberíntico, corrupto, criminal y altamente ineficaz, y la estigmatización que sufren las víctimas aún en la muerte.

Un retrato emocionante de una de las mejores cuentistas argentinas. La escritora argentina Silvina Ocampo es una de las figuras más exquisitas, talentosas y extrañas de la literatura en español. Hija de una familia aristocrática, autora de libros que, al decir de Roberto Bolaño, parecen provenir de "una limpia cocina literaria", en torno a ella se han urdido mitos que envuelven no solo su obra, revalorizada con entusiasmo en los últimos años, sino también su vida privada.

Un día la mujer cuyos hijos cuidaba le contó la verdad: Soy puta. Poco después le preguntó si quería atender a uno de sus clientes. Georgina Orellano calculó: con sus ingresos como niñera jamás podría superar la pobreza. Así que aceptó. En un rato ganó más que el salario mensual de su madre, empleada doméstica.