A novel about love and lovelessness and all the things that mark us in the course of a life.
La dona immòbil is a story of the stories revolving around an attractive woman, Helena Graus, who finds herself forces into immobility after an accident at home.
She’s the center of attention for four men she had a relationship with at different stages of her life: her husband, a successful politician running in an upcoming race; her lover, a highly regarded pianist; the rich and lonely financier she was involved with when they were both young; and a faithful doctor who has always been her friend.
All these characters harbor unspeakable secrets. People who knew each other in younger days and aren’t the same as they used to be rediscover one another in a house in the mountains, shut away and isolated by a powerful snowstorm. A warmth reigns there that reignites love and old affections, but fear, penitence, and expiation are present as well. Along with an old pastor who reveals the ways the consequences of the past shape the future.
«Everything Joan Barril wrote for us is on the side of life: his books were vitalist, and in them, beneath their witty adornments and brilliant phrasing, was always the throbbing of his own life, his preoccupations but, above all, his hopes and euphoria.» Vicenç Villatoro, La Vanguardia
A novel about love and lovelessness and all the things that mark us in the course of a life.
La dona immòbil is a story of the stories revolving around an attractive woman, Helena Graus, who finds herself forces into immobility after an accident at home.
She’s the center of attention for four men she had a relationship with at different stages of her life: her husband, a successful politician running in an upcoming race; her lover, a highly regarded pianist; the rich and lonely financier she was involved with when they were both young; and a faithful doctor who has always been her friend.
All these characters harbor unspeakable secrets. People who knew each other in younger days and aren’t the same as they used to be rediscover one another in a house in the mountains, shut away and isolated by a powerful snowstorm. A warmth reigns there that reignites love and old affections, but fear, penitence, and expiation are present as well. Along with an old pastor who reveals the ways the consequences of the past shape the future.
«Everything Joan Barril wrote for us is on the side of life: his books were vitalist, and in them, beneath their witty adornments and brilliant phrasing, was always the throbbing of his own life, his preoccupations but, above all, his hopes and euphoria.» Vicenç Villatoro, La Vanguardia
On Happiness | Edicions 62, 2013
The Shadow Hunter | Edicions 62, 2012
The Promised Land | Edicions 62, 2010
Ara Llibres, 2009 | 201 Normal Stories
The Immense Space - Notes from Namibia | Amsterdam (Ara llibres), 2008
About Pleasures. The Optimist’s Manual | Ed. 62, 2009
On Distance. Catalonia – Spain | Ediciones 62, 2008
Amsterdam Llibres, 2008 | 100 Moral Tales
About Love | Edicions 62, 2007
I’ll Give You a Call, and Other Sunday Stories | Ediciones B, 2003
Being a Father | La Campana, 1997
True Lies | Columna, 2002
Almost a Couple | Planeta, 2001
Compulsory Stop | Planeta, 1998 (catalán / castellano)
Every Port Is Called Helena | SM, 1999, castellano / Empuries, 1999, catalán