Ramon Gener

2024 Ramon Llull Prize for Catalan Literature. Guided by the masterful baton of Ramon Gener, a novel that moves through twentieth-century Europe with the emotional rhythm of a delicate score.

Carved inside a Grotrian-Steinweg piano, serial number 31887, a music lover discovers the names of the instrument's previous owners, which he has just purchased in a store in the Gracia neighbourhood of Barcelona. Determined to find out everything about its history, he embarks on a journey that takes him back a hundred years.

First World War: in Magdeburg a poor widow spends her last savings on a Grotrian-Steinweg piano so that her son, a young man with an extraordinary musical talent, can play it as soon as he returns from the front. But it will not be poor Johannes who plays the piano for the first time, but rather an enemy soldier, an English officer, who shows us that music can bring out the best in human beings, even in times of war.

Thus, the Grotrian-Steinweg 31887 changes hands according to the inscrutable whims of fate. It survives the turbulent transformations of the last century while witnessing small stories lost in the past, anonymous lives crossed by impossible loves and shattered hopes, or transported by the wonderful power exerted by music in favour of unity and friendship.

“If music can save us, then literature can too. We feel as if we’ve discovered a treasure, a magnificent book.” Ramon Llull Prize Jury

“One of the most important Catalan novels I’ve read in many years. Each page is beautifully written.” Pere Gimferrer

“Ramon Gener makes the impossible possible: spreading the passion for poetry and seducing the most sceptical.” The New Barcelona Post

“[…] A worthy Ramon Llull Prize. Pacifist, culturally rich, and well-scripted.” La Vanguardia

“Gener knows a lot about music, he likes to share his passion, he is a great communicator who sees beyond the bare music. [...] The tightly woven plot places the piano in a network of supportive relationships between characters of different nationalities: friendship and sensitivity against pain.” Julià Guillamon, La Vanguardia