Ten books translated into Spanish that marked 2021 – El Comercio

Many literary novelties translated into Spanish have reached the bookstores in 2021, both from several Nobel laureates and other well-known writers throughout the world, from which Agencia EFE selects the following ten books:

‘The country of the others’ by Leila Slimani

Chosen best fiction book 2021 by the Booksellers Guilds of Madrid and Catalonia, this novel tells the story of the marriage formed by a young Alsatian woman and a Moroccan soldier in the 1950s. All the characters live in “the country of others”, but women, above all, must constantly fight for their emancipation.

‘The desired’, by Maryse Condé

Story of three generations of island women united by the force of blood, abuse and violence, in the journey that the protagonist, Marie-Nolle begins from Guadeloupe to France, passing through the United States, with unwanted maternity and men of doubtful moral.

‘The Empire of Pain’, by Patrick Radden Keefe

This New Yorker journalist, currently considered one of the greatest exponents of world narrative journalism, discovers the scandalous story behind the Sackler dynasty, one of the richest families in the world, as well as the controversial origin of their money through your pharmacist, Purdue Pharma.

‘Paradise’, by Abdulrazak Gurnah

There were few copies in Spanish of the novels of the recent winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature when the jury ruling that recognized this Tanzanian writer was known, until this novel was published, a story of love and friendship, loyalties and disloyalty, in an African society in full change.

‘Chronicles from the happiest country on earth’, by Wole Soyinka

The first African and the first black writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1986, he returned to fiction after almost fifty years with a work in which he calls for mobilization against the abuse of power.

‘Crossroads’, by Jonathan Franzen

The first installment of a trilogy about the American family and society of the last three decades through a family from the Midwest during a period of deep moral crisis. Russ Hildebrandt, pastor at a progressive suburban church, is about to break free from a marriage he considers unhappy, unless his wife Marion, who also leads a secret life, anticipates him.

‘Klara and the sun’, by Kazuo Ishiguro

It was the first novel published by the British writer, born in Nagasaki in 1954 and author of works such as “The Remains of the Day” (Booker Prize) or “The Inconsolables” (Cheltenham Prize), after being awarded the Nobel Prize in 2017. de Literatura, a work written from the perspective of an AA, an Artificial Friend, that explores the essence of the human.

‘Shuggie Bain Story’ by Douglas Stuart

A moving tale of a son determined to save his mother at all costs, set in the early eighties in a Glasgow agonizing over the policies of Margaret Thatcher.

‘The Immortal Flame of Stephen Crane’, by Paul Auster

The American writer traces the fleeting and intense life of the writer Stephen Crane during the years in which the United States went from being the country of Billy the Child to becoming the America of Rockefeller.

‘Where are you beautiful world’, by Sally Rooney

The latest novel by this Irish writer, a trendy author between millennials and Gen Z, tells the story of Alice and Eileen, two best friends with very different backgrounds who are approaching their thirties and who begin to see life with different eyes.