Photo: Paloma Sánchez-Garnica. Font: Editorial Planeta.
Paloma Sánchez-Garnica is a Spanish writer born in 1962. A lawyer by profession, and passionate about History, she left the legal profession to dedicate herself to what she liked the most: writing historical novels. She published her first novel in 2006 and took over the Fernando Lara Award in 2016 for his novel My memory is stronger than your forgetfulness. In 2021 he was a finalist for the Planet Award by Last days in Berlin.
Sánchez-Garnica's work has brought her a battery of recognitions and satisfactions that make this author one of the most eminent of the historical genre and within it, of the thriller, since his works contain skillful plots full of intrigue. This writer will surely have many surprises to give. Let's go with her books.
The great arcane (2006)
The great arcanum is the first novel by Sánchez-Garnica and It is a journey, an adventure novel in a historical plot full of intrigue that can change the conception of Western culture.. Faced with the mysterious disappearance of Professor Armando Dorado, his disciples Laura and Carlos do not hesitate to go out in search of him. To do this, they undertake a dangerous journey that will take them through different countries to find the professor, the same one who leaves them clues to find him. Everything seems suspicious, since the professor had long ago been immersed in an investigation of a codex that has also disappeared.
The breeze from the East (2009)
This novel is also the exposition of a journey, as a symbol of the change that occurs in the protagonist, a young monk named Umberto de Quéribus, who in the year 1204 sets out for Constantinople. He will know all the feelings, including love and the most sincere friendship. But he will also know the most perverse face of the human being. He will meet various characters and situations that will make him approach heresy and learn about the harshness of the world..
The soul of stones (2010)
It is a novel that unravels the origin and hidden interests of the discovery of the tomb awarded to Santiago Apóstol in the year 824. The protagonists are separated by two centuries: first, there is the story of the monk Martín de Bilibio who witnesses the happy discovery. On the other hand, Mabilia de Montmerle (a Burgundian noblewoman) arrives due to fate to Finis Terrae, the place where the earth ends, the known world.
The two characters undertake individual journeys, in a peculiar way, through the Middle Ages in search of the secrets hidden in the stones behind the trade of stonemasonry. Without a doubt, The soul of the stones offers a unique adventure through our past and reveals the convenience of having found a holy place in medieval Galicia.
The Three Wounds (2012)
The name of the novel refers to the wounds that are produced by love, life and death. This is what Ernesto discovers at the end of his investigation. Ernesto Santamaría is a writer always attentive to the possibility of finding a next story to tell anywhere. when he finds a box with old love letters and a photograph of a couple dated at the beginning of the Civil War, Ernesto becomes a witness to the secrets kept by these forgotten protagonists for more than 70 years. After so long, it's time to close the wounds.
The Sonata of Silence (2014)
There is an adaptation for television in serial format of this novel, focused on the Spanish postwar period. Tells the story of Marta Ribas, a dreamy and strong woman who, after falling ill, her husband must look after the well-being of her family. Despite the times in which they live, in that war-torn Spain, with the incomprehension of her surroundings, Marta manages to get ahead, at the same time that she discovers where her place is.
My memory is stronger than your oblivion (2016)
with which he won Fernando Lara Novel Award, this author's work is full of secrets, lies and a lot of sensitivity. Carlota is a woman who has everything to succeed, she has carved out an independent life as a renowned judge and could be happy. However, a stain from her past haunts her, because when she was a girl she discovered that she was the result of a forbidden relationship. This fact will condition her, even years after her when her father, in the last time of her life, contacts her.
Sofia's Suspicion (2019)
This is the story of three characters who seek to know who they are. When Daniel is sown with doubts about his origins and his family, he soon arrives in Paris to really find out where he comes from. What he doesn't know is that The events that are to come will change his life in a decisive way, and also that of his wife Sofía.. It is a novel immersed in the climate of the Cold War and the last years of Francoism.
Last days in Berlin (2021)
finalist novel of Planet Award 2021. This latest work by Sánchez-Garnica puts the meaning of promise, love and survival in the spotlight. Yuri Santacruz arrives in Berlin after having fled from Saint Petersburg; he does it in the midst of the rise of Nazism and without his mother and his brother. His family was left behind and now Yuri must find them, no matter how difficult it is. With this situation, and after having met the love of his life, Yuri's sense of justice will lead him to survive in those troubled times with a great war looming.
