The Winterlings

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Every month I'm confronted by at least a few titles that catch me with my proverbial pants down. The Winterlings was one of these, somehow balancing the blunt and the sentimental, making you feel all the feels despite your best intentions, and captivating from beginning to end."

The time period in which The Winterlings is set is not quite precise. The villagers are reeling from the past war, where Spain was split into National and Republican fronts. This still looms large in their memories. During this war, some of them ‘who had voted for the Left in the elections no longer left their houses’, and others fled to Cuba, or Portugal. When the sisters return, the community is still divided, and this is something which I would have liked to seen explored in greater detail as the novel went on. Something which is done relatively expansively, and well, though, is the coverage given to the tumultuous history of Spain, and its effects upon the villagers. Of these, we meet some only in passing, and others in more detail. What I like about The Winterlings is that it flows really nicely. However bizzare, you don't feel like being dragged to any situations. The characters are... quite well-developed for such a short book. With so many names, the author clearly shows an effort to cling one characteristic upon everyone. Sometimes to a higher degree, but will not lead you up to anything, some are not. Painting professionally for nearly two decades, Wolff continues to explore a vivid, personal mythology which blends language, form and texture. His unique vision continues to inspire his collectors, who hang his paintings not just as design centerpieces, but as portals into mystery.The Winterlings is an unusual novel, lyrical and beautiful but ultimately disturbing. I do not believe it will appeal to a wide audience, as it moves forward slowly and doesn't have a plot in the traditional sense. It will however have immense appeal to lovers of literature. Fantástica la atmósfera y desconcertantes sus protagonistas, las hermanas Dolores y Salandrina, que tras muchos años regresan a casa. Dos hermanas que al principio recibí como caricaturescas pero que la obra en conjunto me hizo adoptar de forma positiva. Y es que las inviernas te divierte, te intriga, te desconcierta... y uno no sabe hasta qué punto tomársela o no en serio al principio.

The Winterlings reads like poetry and is filled with sly, sensuous charm and everyday magic…. [it] blends Old World oral storytelling tradition, elements of magical realism, and hints of American gothic style and has been carefully translated from the original Spanish. Though the story is slow in unfolding, readers who appreciate beautiful prose will enjoy the novel’s sleepy-town setting, colorful characters, and strange happenings.“ Both author and publisher had nothing but praise for the translator. This was his first book-length translation project, but he already finds himself so busy that he’s unable to find time to take on further work for Scribe! He and Cristina worked closely together – she is also a translator, from English to Spanish – and the only difficulties in the process came with specifically Galician words or phrases. Caldo, a traditional Galician vegetable soup, was one example highlighted. Sánchez-Andrade’s dark humour and simple language befit the magical-realist realm of this enigmatic tale about how the repercussions of human action, however ancient, can re-emerge at unpredictable times. Tension mounts when the sisters, once united by their passion for Hollywood cinema, compete for the chance to stand in for Ava Gardner in the nearby filming of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. Meanwhile, a mutual suspicion develops between the mysterious sisters and the eccentric villagers: Why have the women returned, and what are they hiding? What perverse business arrangement did the townspeople make with their grandfather, and why won't they speak of his death? Long before writing Las Inviernas, Cristina had penned the many tales told to her by her grandmother, but hadn’t found a way to present them to readers – until this book. The man who ran 40 miles a day believing himself to be a bus and the elderly woman daily given the last rites for years were both such stories.

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The book itself came about when Cristina passed a sign to the village of Las Inviernas in central Spain and the image of the two sisters, amid rain typical of Galicia, came unbidden to her. In fact, the story, at least in terms of its basic outline, wrote itself to a great extent, explained Cristina. Even she did not know until well into writing the book what the sisters’ dark secret would be, let alone that a frozen octopus would be involved. Cristina did observe, however, that this was the best plotted of her books and credits starting to teach creative writing as the main factor in her development of narrative techniques. A novel like The Winterlings refutes, by far, the so-called crisis of the genre … Under the splendid references of Valle-Inclán, Cunqueiro or the first Luis Mateo Díez, this novel is a tribute to the popular oral narrative. A novel shaped by intrigue, a perfect recreation of rural atmospheres, and a tempestuous past. A novel of disturbing humour, rigorous writing, and accomplished ambition. The Winterling can be a difficult play but contains rich veins of comedy. In addition, this trip to Dartmoor might initially seem to support the tradition of country life as red in tooth and claw. In this case though, the reddest teeth and claws have come from the Big Smoke. The Winterlings is Cristina’s ninth novel, but her first to be published in English. Henry first heard about the book from Cristina’s Spanish agent and, in a very rare move, bought the book unseen on the basis of Samuel Rutter’s enthusiastic recommendation. The writing in this novel is strong. I particularly admired the romanticism which Sánchez-Andrade weaves into her descriptions, which gives them the feel of a fairytale. She writes, for instance, ‘Bats and owls crashed into each other, flying in loops. Ivy had invaded the house, and the chimney, bursting with foliage, had acquired the dimensions and appearance of a crumbling tower. The house had an orchard with a lemon tree, and bushes that sheltered butterflies and rustling noises; at the bottom, a river coursed with slender and succulent trout.’ The house in which the sisters live is on the edge of a forest described as ‘taut and dense’. I liked the relatively matter-of-fact descriptions too, which contrast nicely with the above. When the sisters spend their first evening in the house, Sánchez-Andrade writes: ‘They swept the floor. They pulled down the cobwebs. They put away the provisions they had brought. They made soup. The light dwindled, and the cold sharpened.’

The story centers around two sisters who return to the Spanish village where they once lived with their grandfather. After a youth spent in exile, their return revives the old fears, superstitions and resentments that led to their grandfather's murder during the Spanish civil war. Like the characters in a morality play, each resident is distinctly human, but has a grotesque almost absurd aspect. The life of the village and the interactions of its residents is juxtaposed against the glory of the cinema. Both sisters love film and yearn to escape, to become someone else. Identity issues are at the heart of this tale, from the yearning sisters to the cross dressing dentist. No voy a añadir nada más de esta historia de regusto rural y tópicos gallegos, que me ha deleitado con sus dos maravillosas protagonistas. "Las Inviernas" recoge tradición, personajes entrañables, vivencias surrealistas, pero también olores y sentimientos. Las nenas, señoras ya, se aclimatan, se toman su vuelta en serio: pasean la vaca, pasean las ovejas, van a misa, pasean ellas, recordando, claro, que es todo volver al pueblo y darse a recodar que si esto lo otro o lo de más allá.Los hombres doblados sobre la tierra se enderezaron para observar. Las mujeres detuvieron las escobas. Los niños dejaron de jugar: dos mujeres con grandes huesos cansados, como irritados de la vida, atravesaban la plaza del pueblo. Cristina-Sánchez-Andrade is, simply, one of the best writers in Spain. Her language is vastly rich. A memorable narration. A flawless and unusual novel.