Divorce Is in the Air

The American debut of a highly acclaimed young Spanish writer: a darkly funny, acerbic novel about love--and the end of love--and how hard it can be to let go.

There's a lot about Joan-Marc that his estranged second wife doesn't know--but which he now sets out to tell her. He begins with the failure of his first marriage to an American woman named Helen, describing a vacation they took in a last-ditch attempt to salvage their once-passionate romance. The recollection of this ill-fated trip triggers in him a series of flashbacks through which he narrates his life story, hopscotching between Barcelona and Madrid. Starting from pivotal moments in his childhood--his earliest sexual encounters, his father's suicide, his mother's emotional decline--he moves through the years to the origin of his relationship with Helen and the circumstances surrounding its deterioration. The result is a provocative exploration of memory, nostalgia, romance, the ways in which the past takes hold--a powerful portrait of a man struggling with his illusions about life and love.

GONZALO TORNE is the author of two previous novels published in Spain, for which he won the Premio Jaen de Novela and was a finalist for the Premio Nacional de Narrativa. He has also translated work by William Wordsworth and John Ashbery into Spanish. He lives in Barcelona. Translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell.