Description
Description
A shattering tale of oppression and resistance during Franco's dictatorship, by a beloved Spanish novelist "A ferocious story."--The Guardian "[Delibes] is a master of compression, using the art of omission to convey a slow-burning sense of injustice. . . . Peter Bush's exemplary translation remains faithful to Delibes's Castilian original."--Tobias Grey, Financial Times Named one of the 100 best Spanish-language novels of the 20th century (El Mundo) - Adapted into an award-winning film by Mario Camus In the arid province of Extremadura in 1960s Spain, life on a country estate carries on as it has for centuries: wealthy landowners live in luxury while workers endure lives of poverty and humiliation. Amid this exploitation and injustice live RĂ©gula, an estate's gatekeeper, and her husband, Paco, the hunting attendant of the contemptuous Señorito IvĂĄn. RĂ©gula's brother AzarĂas toils as a farmhand, but he prefers chasing tawny owls at night, training his pet jackdaw, and caring for his young niece, who is bedridden. When Paco is injured, the nature-loving AzarĂas is forced to take over as hunting attendant. But after Señorito IvĂĄn commits an act of enormous cruelty following an unsuccessful hunt, it is only a matter of time before the simmering tensions between the aristocracy and the workers explode. A perennial Spanish classic, translated into twelve languages but never before into English, The Holy Innocents is a searing tale of human cruelty and alienation, in which resistance and liberation are not just necessary but possible.
About the Author
About the Author
Miguel Delibes (1920-2010) was one of Spain's most popular twentieth-century writers. He is the author of Five Hours with Mario and The Heretic, among other works. Peter Bush is an award-winning literary translator from Catalan, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Colm TĂłibĂn is an award-winning novelist and critic.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
"[Delibes] is a master of compression, using the art of omission to convey a slow-burning sense of injustice. . . . Peter Bush's exemplary translation remains faithful to Delibes's Castilian original."--Tobias Grey, Financial Times "Passion in ordinary lives, sobriety and melancholy are the flavors of Delibes's writing . . . with a profound empathy for nature and the poor. . . . The Holy Innocents [is] a ferocious story."--The Guardian "A powerful tale of the essential struggle for human dignity, one that resonates with the regime changes of its author's time--as well as those of our own."--Asymptote "A clear and revealing picture, almost raw in parts. . . . Vivid . . . strong."--M. A. Orthofer, Complete Review "The Holy Innocents, for all of its 'plain style, ' moves with a quickened pace, abetted by an arrangement of text on the page that affords leaps between dialogue and everything else."--Ron Slate, On the Seawall Praise for Miguel Delibes: "Passion in ordinary lives, sobriety and melancholy are the flavors of Delibes's writing. . . with a profound empathy for nature and the poor. . . The Holy Innocents [is] a ferocious story."--The Guardian "One of the great Spanish writers of the past century."--The Economist "A prolific and much-honored Spanish novelist who explored human nature through the lives of common folk living in the rich Castilian countryside. . . . Delibes was often Spain's leading nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Known for his humble nature, his empathy for the poor and a lifelong commitment to rural Spain and its traditions, . . . [in] The Holy Innocents, Mr. Delibes examined wealth and poverty in rural Spain."--New York Times "Miguel Delibes [was] one of Spain's literary treasures."--Words Without Borders "Delibes's hauntingly stark, gritty prose style captured the essence of Spain's rural and provincial life."--The Independent
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Yale University Press
Pub date:
2025-05-13
Length:
144 pages
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