IN DIAMOND SQUARE

Barcelona, early 1930s. Natalia is hesitant when a stranger asks her to dance at the fiesta in Diamond Square. But Joe is charming and forceful, and she takes his hand.

They marry and soon have two children. On the roof of their apartment Joe breeds pigeons, which delight his son and daughter. Then the Spanish Civil War erupts and lays waste to the city and to their simple life. Natalia remains in Barcelona, struggling to feed her family, while Joe goes to fight the fascists, and one by one his beloved birds fly away.

'Go along with Natalia on her night out and you"ll soon find you'd follow her anywhere. Rodoreda's writing pays such fierce and tender attention to the experience of being alive, and the tempest that ordinary life can be' Helen Oyeyemi

First published in 1974, this is a classic of modern Catalan literature from one of Spain's most prestigious authors. Spans three generations of an aristocratic family at the turn of the 19th century onwards. Translated by Josep Miquel Sobrer.

Discover the most important Catalan novelist of the postwar period.