La rama que no existe / The Branch That Does Not Exist
Novel , 2019
Destino
Pages: 176
A love story between two wounded souls that takes us into the depths of art and emotions.
Gonzalo, a high school science teacher in a coastal Cantabrian town, falls madly in love with Claudia, the new French literature teacher. Aware that she doesn’t share his feelings, he soon becomes her friend and confidant, as well as the narrator of this story. Gonzalo watches as Claudia begins falling for Eduardo Blanchard, a famous painter in crisis who’s now retired in the region. The young teacher, having experienced a tragic loss in her past, is fascinated by this solitary older man and his paintings, portraying sickly beings in scenes of mystery and beauty.
A melancholy novel about the duality between desire and the real world, death and hidden feelings, where the Cantabrian landscape – with its cliffs, estuaries, and shadowy woods – becomes yet another character.
“The appeal of Gustavo Martín Garzo’s prose lies in its harmony, in what it gradually reveals, and in what is simply suggested or left unsaid.” J.A. Masoliver-Ródenas, La Vanguardia
“One of his best novels, in which every page combines simplicity with poetic spirit.” Ángel Basanta, El Cultural
“The novel takes the shape of a collection of stories that speak of life and love, needs and deficiencies, unattainable happiness, guilt, pain, unkept promises, and death.” A. Rodríguez Fischer, Babelia, El País
“In that area of chiaroscuros, where love and pain merge in incomprehensible acts, between the unknown and death, that’s where Martín Garzo’s pen flies highest.” El Periódico