Barcelona Dreaming

Book excerpt: New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Three novellas are “cleverly linked together” in this “beguiling love letter to the great city” set before the financial crash of 2008 (Condé Nast Traveller). “Ironic, observant, alert . . . its atmosphere [is] invoked with intimate knowledge and a matchless sense of place.” —Colm Tóibín Barcelona Dreaming is narrated by an English woman who runs a gift shop, an alcoholic jazz pianist, and a translator tormented by unrequited love—all of whose lives will be changed forever. Underpinning the novel, and casting a long shadow, is a crime committed against a young Moroccan immigrant. Exploring themes of addiction, racism, celebrity, immigration, and self-delusion, and fueled by a longing for the unattainable and a nostalgia for what is about to be lost, Barcelona Dreaming is a love letter to one of the world’s most beautiful cities and a powerful and poignant fable for our uncertain times.