Книга Last Day of a Prior Life
‘A ghost story without ghosts that, beyond the beauty of its form, explores solitude, the twists and turns of our lives, and the unfathomable complexities of affection.’ Mariana Enriquez
While preparing an empty house for sale, a woman encounters an unblinking seven-year-old boy, trapped there from another era, like an insect preserved in amber. Unable to articulate what he needs, the child draws her into an unsettling bond that neither can escape … until they understand what has caused it.
With incredible precision, this deeply disquieting novel weaves together doppelgängers and time loops in the tradition of a classic ghost story. Yet its contemporary sensibility — where lyricism meets cruelty — evokes the dark horror of Shirley Jackson.
From one of the most renowned Spanish-language authors working today, Last Day of a Prior Life is a masterful dissection of human longing and the ties that bind us, even across time itself.
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‘Barba has perfectly understood the aggressiveness that sometimes defines our romantic encounters, and the clarity of his prose is the perfect vehicle.’
" - Times Literary Supplement"
‘With a quote from Lewis Carroll at the beginning and references to Henry James, Charles Dickens, and Shirley Jackson, Last Day of a Prior Life confirms what Barba describes as a return to the genre.’
" - ABC Cultural"
‘Last Day of a Prior Life is, perhaps, a novel about isolation, loneliness, and memory, but also about the need for healing and redemption. One feels a strange hopefulness when finishing it.’
" - El Mundo"
‘Barba fuses past and present … reminiscent of classics of the ghost genre and full of lyricism, delicacy, and cruelty.’
" - Expansion"
Praise for A Luminous Republic:
‘In an acute translation by Lisa Dillman, [the narrator’s] excavation draws on his memories, but also on the documentaries and scholarly studies that sought to explain the freakish episode, giving a gripping metaphysical dimension to the horror story.’
" - The Wall Street Journal"
Praise for A Luminous Republic:
‘Barba has displayed an enviable gift for conveying, through an inventively abstract style, the strange worlds of childhood and early adolescence.’
" - New York Times"
Praise for Such Small Hands:
‘For Barba, it’s the limits on narrative form that open the door for probing the psychological questions of childhood … Dillman’s translation is exquisite … Dillman manages to strike the right balance between not alienating readers with direct translations of labyrinthine Spanish prose while also not changing the meaning, mood, and metaphors of the original … stunning and beautiful prose.’
" - Los Angeles Review of Books"
Praise for Such Small Hands:
‘Such Small Hands is a magnificently chilling antidote to society’s reverence for ideas of infantile innocence and purity … [Barba] drags his readers into a hyperreal world of childhood … Lisa Dillman’s translation is as evocative as a reader could wish for … the path is set towards a shocking and bloody denouement worthy of the most spine-tingling horror film.’
" - Financial Times