The Winterlings

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De «Las inviernas» una sale con la boca y la entraña dolorida, la cabeza brumosa y ligero temblor en las manos. ¡Qué hermoso libro, duro como un pan hecho con piedras! Una historia que se huele, se toca y se mastica. Esta novela me encandiló por el título antes de haber leído nada de la autora, pero tuve que esperar unos cuantos meses para conseguirla en préstamo. Si ya me gustó «El niño que comía lana», «Las inviernas» ha hecho profundizado en el imaginario que aquella comenzó a crear en mi cabeza sobre la Galicia de la posguerra. Las inviernas son dos hermanas que regresan a su pueblo a finales de los años cuarenta, tras haberlo abandonado a toda prisa, huyendo de la guerra y sus consecuencias. Vuelven Dolores y Saladina a la aldea con un carro y un montón de secretos a su aldea gallega, a sus montes, su vaca y sus ovejas, a hacer su requesón y su mermelada de higos. Pero los habitantes del pueblo guardan también secretos y rencores para con las inviernas. In The Winterlings, we meet two sisters, named Saladina and Dolores who have returned to their childhood home. They lived with their grandfather in a small community in Galicia, named Tierra de Chá. Here, they find that ‘nothing and everything has changed: the people, the distant little house in the rain, the acrid smell of gorse, the flowers, the crops, the customs.’ Their return serves to disrupt the ‘placid existence of the villagers, stirring up memories best left alone.’ At October’s Book Club, the title under discussion was PEN Translates award-winning The Winterlings by Cristina Sánchez-Andrade, translated from Spanish by Samuel Rutter. The evening also featured our final guests of 2016, the author herself and Henry Rosenbloom, the founder of the book’s publisher Scribe (whose list this year is a full half translated literature, we were delighted to hear!). Tension mounts when the sisters, once united by their passion for Hollywood cinema, compete for the chance to stand in for Ava Gardner in the nearby filming of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. Meanwhile, a mutual suspicion develops between the mysterious sisters and the eccentric villagers: Why have the women returned, and what are they hiding? What perverse business arrangement did the townspeople make with their grandfather, and why won't they speak of his death? Her skin gives off waves of heat, the light, the beating of their hearts, and the touching of flesh soothes the women. Dolores’ answer lurks in the darkness.

The time period in which The Winterlings is set is not quite precise. The villagers are reeling from the past war, where Spain was split into National and Republican fronts. This still looms large in their memories. During this war, some of them ‘who had voted for the Left in the elections no longer left their houses’, and others fled to Cuba, or Portugal. When the sisters return, the community is still divided, and this is something which I would have liked to seen explored in greater detail as the novel went on. Something which is done relatively expansively, and well, though, is the coverage given to the tumultuous history of Spain, and its effects upon the villagers. Of these, we meet some only in passing, and others in more detail. Both author and publisher had nothing but praise for the translator. This was his first book-length translation project, but he already finds himself so busy that he’s unable to find time to take on further work for Scribe! He and Cristina worked closely together – she is also a translator, from English to Spanish – and the only difficulties in the process came with specifically Galician words or phrases. Caldo, a traditional Galician vegetable soup, was one example highlighted. Sánchez-Andrade's dark humor and simple language befit the magical-realist realm of this enigmatic tale about how the repercussions of human action, however ancient, can re-emerge at unpredictable times.”

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Saladina lights the oil lamp. She stretches an arm towards the other bed and takes her sister’s hand. After the interval, Jez Butterworth begins to play with form and time. Similar situations are replayed with characters taking lines previously used by others, while absurdity is emphasised, particularly by a new entrant, Lue (Sally Hawkins). In an irritating, high-pitched drawl, she talks of her desire to fly away but never does so.

Sánchez-Andrade's dark humor and simple language befit the magical-realist realm of this enigmatic tale about how the repercussions of human action, however ancient, can re-emerge at unpredictable times."Tension mounts when the sisters, once united by their passion for Hollywood cinema, compete for the chance to stand in for Ava Gardner in the nearby filming of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. Meanwhile, a mutual suspicion develops between the mysterious sisters and the eccentric villagers: Why have the women returned, and what are they hiding? What perverse business arrangement did the townspeople make with their grandfather, and why won’t they speak of his death? Es de este modo como nos adentramos en la rutina de las dos hermanas, en los secretos que esconden, en sus sueños frustrados, en la historia del pasado...en ese abuelo Reinaldo, mezcla de curandero y mago que en su momento determinó que tuvieran que abandonar la aldea y que, de nuevo, parece que sus hechos del pasado las sigue afectando. The Winterlings flows smoothly, more like poetry than prose. It isn't a gothic in the traditional sense, but like in gothics women and the conception of femininity play a central role.

Así comienza esa historia, que nos traslada a la Galicia de la posguerra. Las Inviernas vuelven a casa, seguidas de cuatro ovejas y una vaca, tirando de un carro que esconde secretos y vida. Regresan a la aldea que las vio partir deprisa, siendo aún unas niñas. Y desde que llegan todo son habladurías, su vuelta parece perturbar a todos, pero nadie las dice nada.Los hombres doblados sobre la tierra se enderezaron para observar. Las mujeres detuvieron las escobas. Los niños dejaron de jugar: dos mujeres con grandes huesos cansados, como irritados de la vida, atravesaban la plaza del pueblo.

Cristina Sánchez-Andrade is the author of eight novels. She has won the Guadalajara International Book Fair’s prestigious Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz literary prize, and The Winterlings was a finalist for the Herralde Novel Prize in 2013. She lives in Madrid.

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No voy a añadir nada más de esta historia de regusto rural y tópicos gallegos, que me ha deleitado con sus dos maravillosas protagonistas. "Las Inviernas" recoge tradición, personajes entrañables, vivencias surrealistas, pero también olores y sentimientos. Barrieron el suelo. Arrancaron las telarañas. Colocaron los bártulos que traían. Hicieron una sopa. Menguó la luz y aumentó el frío. Long before writing Las Inviernas, Cristina had penned the many tales told to her by her grandmother, but hadn’t found a way to present them to readers – until this book. The man who ran 40 miles a day believing himself to be a bus and the elderly woman daily given the last rites for years were both such stories. Los hombres doblados sobre la tierra se enderezaron para observar. Las mujeres detuvieron sus escobas. Los niños dejaron de jugar: dos mujeres con grandes huesos cansados, como irritados de la vida, atravesaron la plaza del pueblo. " The Winterlings is Cristina’s ninth novel, but her first to be published in English. Henry first heard about the book from Cristina’s Spanish agent and, in a very rare move, bought the book unseen on the basis of Samuel Rutter’s enthusiastic recommendation.