NADA, by Carmen Laforet, is a Spanish classic that’s never ceased to fascinate readers since its release just over 70 years ago. Compared to works such as The Catcher in the Rye and Bonjour Tristesse, Nada has been translated into 25 languages to date, and new editions are constantly emerging. It was released in Swedish for the first time in August 2017 (by Bokförlaget Komet), and will soon be published in Taiwan (by Omnibook). A new release by Penguin Vintage Classics is expected in the UK, and more are coming soon in the Arab world. And we can expect many more as Carmen Laforet’s 100th birthday approaches in 2021.
"Because of last-minute difficulties in buying tickets, I arrived in Barcelona at midnight on a train different from the one I had announced, and nobody was waiting for me." Thus begins Carmen Laforet's 1945 debut novel, in which eighteen-year-old Andrea arrives in the big city late at night to study at the university. She longs for adventure and freedom, but life with her relatives in the apartment on Calle Aribau does not turn out as she imagined.
“Nada does indeed recall Sartre and Camus, but is fresher and more vibrant than either, and with its call to intuition and feelings rather than intellect, it cuts deeper… [ ]….a beautiful evocation of the tidal wave of late adolescent feeling…. Nada…a work of genius.” Los Angeles Times
“Carmen Laforet is a hugely talented writer, and the first in the history of the Spanish language to give us a complete and open portrait of the female soul from within.” Ramón J. Sénder