This is a «novel ofnovellas», a portrait of a city composed of four variations on the same theme: someone, suddenly and accidentally, finally comprehends the life of someone else. Paternity, infidelity, death, an incapacity to communicate genuine feelings, the sudden eruption of love, fascination for the other, the architecture of desire and the fear of happiness are the central themes that shake the lives of the protagonists of these excellent novellas which, in reality, are the subjects of any life, brilliantly evoked by an author of whom it has been said:  

«Andrés Barba needs no introduction. He has his own intentional world perfectly contained and a literary craft that belies his age» (Mario Vargas Llosa).

«In my opinion, Barba has become an essential author» (Rafael Chirbes).

«A new Spanish great, that’s all I need to say» (Lire).

«Barba has perfectly understood the aggressiveness that sometimes defines our romantic encounters and his precise prose provides the perfect  vehicle to express it» (Times Literary Supplement).

«Andrés Barba is one of our best writers... A writer able to go to the heart of experience... It’s as if Barba wants to say that there are some moments where everything is suddenly clear and that you only need to listen or observe the other to truly understand. This gaze into feeling is literature’s most important domain and Barba has managed to access it. I have rarely seen the feelings and sexuality of women better described than in these three novellas» (J. M Pozuelo Yvancos, ABC).

«Barba demonstrates his mastery of the short novel, maintaining coherence and truth throughout the creation of a narrative world that concentrates on  the relationships between members of the same family, and their emotions and feelings» (Ángel Basanta, El Cultural, El Mundo)

«Andrés Barba continues his narrative exploration, almost always tied to an investigation—as acerbic and precise, as it is implacable—of feelings, emotions and experiences that live in the heart of families and that modulate the distinct relationships between its members, whether they are parents or brothers and sisters» (Ana Rodríguez Fischer, El País).

«Andrés Barba has a knack for unpacking the psychology of common people, exploring the internal climatology of those who still haven’t found themselves or where they fit into society, usually passively and always unsatisfied... Barba is a writer equipped to observe the invisible movements of behaviour and also able to describe, and occasionally, deconstruct them...  This book impresses with its honesty, for the calm rhythm of its style and because it ends up whispering in the reader’s ear that, in some ways, this is their story as well» (Domingo Ródenas, El Periódico).

«Stories to be read in one sitting, which confirm the narrative skill of the author» (Santiago Aizarna, El Diario Vasco).

«Barba studies the personality of ‘the other’ with the precision of an entomologist... A new step forward in his career as a writer capable of taking on any literary genre that he comes across» (Natalio Blanco, Cambio 16).

«With exquisite craftsmanship, Barba captures existential mystery in seemingly banal moments of domestic strife, family tension, and romantic entanglements» (Publishers Weekly).