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Home > Translation > The World Bookshelf > Books > The Whispering City

The Whispering City

Barcelona, 1952: General Franco’s fascist government is at the height of its oppressive powers, casting a black shadow across the city. When wealthy socialite Mariona Sobrerroca is found dead in her mansion in the exclusive Tibidabo district, the police scramble to seize control of the investigation. Ana Martí Noguer, an eager young journalist, is surprised to be assigned this important story, shadowing Inspector Isidro Castro.

But Ana soon realises that a bundle of strange letters unearthed at the scene points to a sequence of events dramatically different from the official version. She enlists the help of her cousin Beatriz, a scholar, and what begins as an intriguing puzzle opens up a series of revelations that implicate the regime’s most influential figures. The two women have placed themselves in mortal danger. As the conspiracy unfolds, Ana’s courage and Beatriz’s wits will be their only weapons against the city’s corrupt and murderous elite.

Author

Sara Moliner

Sara Moliner

Books

The Whispering City

Sara Moliner is the pseudonym for the writing duo Rosa Ribas and Sabine Hofmann. Rosa Ribas was born in 1963 in Barcelona, and since 1991 has lived in Frankfurt where she teaches at the university. She is the celebrated author of six previous novels. Sabine Hofmann was born in 1964 and is a former lecturer in philology at Frankfurt University. The Whispering City is their first novel together. Highly acclaimed in Spain, it will be published in several languages around the world.

Translator

Mara Lethem

Mara Lethem

Books

The Whispering City

Brother in Ice

Mara Faye Lethem has translated novels by Jaume Cabré, David Trueba, Albert Sánchez Piñol, Javier Calvo, Patricio Pron, Marc Pastor and Pablo De Santis, among others. Her translations have appeared in The Best American Non-Required Reading 2010, Granta, The Paris Review and McSweeney’s.

Published by

Little, Brown, 2015
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Barcelona, 1952: General Franco’s fascist government is at the height of its oppressive powers, casting a black shadow across the city. When wealthy socialite Mariona Sobrerroca is found dead in her mansion in the exclusive Tibidabo district, the police scramble to seize control of the investigation. Ana Martí Noguer, an eager young journalist, is surprised to be assigned this important story, shadowing Inspector Isidro Castro.

But Ana soon realises that a bundle of strange letters unearthed at the scene points to a sequence of events dramatically different from the official version. She enlists the help of her cousin Beatriz, a scholar, and what begins as an intriguing puzzle opens up a series of revelations that implicate the regime’s most influential figures. The two women have placed themselves in mortal danger. As the conspiracy unfolds, Ana’s courage and Beatriz’s wits will be their only weapons against the city’s corrupt and murderous elite.

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