Madrid Will Be Their Tomb

October 10, 2023 | FUM D'ESTAMPA PRESS | 978–1–913744–39–7
Madrid Will Be Their Tomb
Elizabeth Duval | Alice Banks (translator)

Two occupied buildings: one the former headquarters of the NO-DO (a Francoist propaganda outlet) that has been taken over by a small group of fascists, the other the ruins of some abandoned film studios that have been converted into the barracks of a Marxist-Leninist cell. Drifting between these two spaces are Santiago and Ramiro; two characters who, although finding solace in two polarised political groups, cross paths and change each other’s lives. Discursive and devastating, Duval’s first novel is imbued with the same traits as the era she portrays. A sad, passionate, and all too real portrait of an ever more divided world, Duval’s story, in her powerful, shocking, yet considered prose, reminds us of the uncomfortable, but somewhat comforting similarities we may find with the “enemy”.

‘Duval narrates disorder and subversion with a writing which is sometimes contained, sometimes runaway, sometimes ironic and sometimes poetic. Modest and powerfully beautiful, this is writing which illuminates human mystery and lifts the reader into the air, leaving them on an edge where their convictions tremble and shake.’ —JUAN MANUEL DE PRADA. ABC.

‘A marvellous novel.’ —NADAL SUAU, EL ESPAÑOL.