La familia by Sara Mesa

The forceful x-ray of a family, of its latent wounds, fragilities, contradictions and weaknesses... «In this family there are no secrets!», proclaims at the beginning of this book Damián, the father, a man of fixed ideas and ideals obsessed with the righteousness and pedagogy. But that house without secrets is actually full of cracks, and the oppression that permeates its walls will end up creating escape routes, clandestine codes, concealments, pretences and lies. Made up of two girls, two boys, a mother and a father, this apparently normal family, working class and full of good intentions, is the protagonist of a choral novel that spans several decades and whose stories pulsate with the desire for freedom and criticism of the pillars that have traditionally sustained, and still sustain to a great extent, the family institution: authoritarianism and obedience, shame and silence. Sara Mesa once again demonstrates that she has a clinical eye to undress human behaviour, detect latent wounds and portray the fragility, contradictions and weaknesses that make us up in all her complexity. This book is a new twist to the construction of one of the most powerful literary universes of current Spanish letters and the confirmation of a talent that does not stop growing.