The cultural supplement Quaderns of Periódico Mediterráneo has echoed the re-edition in Spanish of El libro del invierno with an article signed by Eric Gras that goes much further than a usual review.
The critic places the novel as "the architecture of everything that would come later" in Francesc Miralles' career: the tension between East and West, the search for pause instead of haste, that clear prose that "hides a precision acquired after years of translating, editing, and writing in the shadows."
Gras describes Joel, the protagonist, as more than just a teenager eager to escape: a direct projection of the young Miralles, "who still didn't know he had just written for millions of readers." And he concludes with an idea that perfectly summarizes the spirit of the book: "To return to winter, to silence, to a forgotten place where the only possible task is to listen to oneself."
A recommended read if you want to know why this novel, written in 2003 and now published for the first time in Spanish, is still so necessary.
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