Saira has never liked the way she looks. She is blonde, has blue eyes and everyone calls her Kharami, that is to say bastard. She lives in Afghanistan with her sister, mother and grandfather, and believes herself to be eight years old.

These are uncertain, unstable times, with the desire for a new republic and repeated attempts to overthrow the monarchy of Alfonso XIII.

When the old local printer’s in which Felipe Díaz Carrión had spent half his life went bankrupt, he was left without a job and with no chance of finding another. It was the era of migration to the industrial towns of the north of Spain.

"Wave of Cold" is not a novel about drugs and alcohol nor the descent into the hell of addiction. Nor is it a novel about the economic crisis, nor how this has changed the face of Madrid forever.

Olivos de cal is a rural novel worthy of Delibes at his most sober. The skilfully drawn characters hide their feelings to such an extent that their silence is itself another character.

What could have happened that night? Martina looked out of the window and... didn’t see a single tree in the street. Or in the square. Or in the park. Or by the river. The city had lost its greenery!

Olga is a forty-eight year old biologist who often dreams about a stranger who gives her pleasure.

What if it were possible to recognise every corrupt politician, police officer or business person by an indelible mark on the face?

Manuel, the hero of this novel, is a sensitive, Catholic, Republican small town boy… and he is a homosexual. Through his diaries the reader begins to understand his personal, emotional, existential and spiritual development.

Julio, a model neighbour and businessman, likes to walk through the lower-class neighbourhood that reminds him of his humble origins and above all, of his success climbing the social ladder.