The shadow of the Rose
The shadow of the Rose is a crime novel written by the Compostela business administrator and author Ángela Banzas, best known for having written The conjuring of the mist. The work that concerns this review was published on September 7, 2023 by the publisher Suma de Letras, and has won the charm of some readers and the strangeness of others, given its style and theme.
Ángela Banzas is famous for her passion for poetic prose, which has given her a very special place within the Black Spanish. However, This very literary way of writing has created a separation between its readers, giving rise to those who admire it without reservation and those who feel distracted or even overwhelmed by what they consider “slow and difficult to follow” works.
Synopsis of The shadow of the Rose
Brief introduction to the history of the cursed writers
In 1884, A French poet named Paul Verlaine published The Poètes maudits -or The cursed poets, by its original title. In it, the author honors the work and lives of several colleagues whom he considered unfairly displaced. These were Tristan Corbière, Arthur Rimbaud, Stéphane Mallarmé, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, Auguste Villiers de L'Isle Adam and Pauvre Lelian.
The last name is nothing more than an anagram of Verlaine himself, who saw himself as misunderstood among his contemporaries, which happened with the writers mentioned above due to the little success they had had, despite the themes of their texts. Over the years, names like Edgar Allan Poe have been added to the list of cursed poets, William Blake, Charles Bukoswki and Baudelaire.
Under the shadow of another cursed writer
The shadow of the Rose follows the life of Antía Fontán, a literature professor specializing in cursed writers who works at the Sorbonne. After her husband abandons her for another woman, the teacher decides to spend some time in Galicia. However, this place is going to provide you with many things, except rest. Shortly after his arrival, an old notebook of Guillermo de Foz was discovered.
This was a cursed poet who was sentenced to hang for supposedly murdering a girl. Aware of this, The teacher takes the opportunity to return to her Galician roots, since, although she was born in Argentina, her maternal family belongs to a small island in front of Carril called Cortegada. However, she later receives the news that her beloved grandmother passed away.
The Rose Killer
Antía travels to Argentina to attend her grandmother's funeral, and discovers that her last wishes take her back to Galicia, where, trying to fulfill what the old woman asked of her, finds a buried human heart. But this will be just one of the terrifying discoveries that Fontán will have to face, as a murderer prowls the quiet streets of the island of Cortegada.
The criminal is nicknamed “the rose murderer”, since it always leaves one of these flowers every time it kills. On the other hand, one of the most interesting curiosities of the work has to do with the criminal's strange hobby of murdering people in the same way in which the characters of the damn writers did it. Thus, the subject recreates the most famous deaths in literature.
The poetic prose of Ángela Banzas
Poetry does not usually have a place in modern thrillers, but, apparently, no one dared to tell this fact to Ángela Banzas, who is not afraid to contest the custom of easy and dizzying crime novels to transform them into complex stories endowed with literary knowledge. Despite the style, The shadow of the Rose is accessible at reading level, in addition to providing dynamism and entertainment.
The work is full of references that every bibliophile could enjoy: poems, excerpts from books, names of authors, and much more. However, Guillermo de Foz, who is the common thread of the crime, is not a historical figure. In fact, Ángela Banzas created it exclusively for this novel, which is a success, since she did it so well that many readers had to Google the name.
The importance of time in The Shadow of the Rose
The novel takes place in the present time, although, at some point, There is a jump into the past that takes the story to 1910. On this date, the events of the murder of the girl of which the poet Guillermo de Foz is accused took place. It is then that a disturbing relationship is revealed between the events of a century ago and the things that begin to happen on the island of Cortegada.
What Antía Fontán does not know is her relationship with the murderer, who seems to leave a few clues only for her to follow. This leaves many questions open, such as who this teacher really is and why the killer is so interested in her and her family. Definitely, The shadow of the Rose It is an entertaining crime novel with great literary connotations.
About the author
Ángela Banzas was born on May 12, 1982, in Santiago de Compostela, La Coruña, Spain. He studied Political Sciences of Administration at the University of Santiago. Later, he completed a master's degree in Business Administration at the European Business School in Madrid. Later, she dedicated herself to the field of Public Administration consulting.
However, Her passion for letters led her to dedicate much of her time to literary creation. This author's books are focused on crime novels, with a high poetic, historical and, last but not least, fantastic content. Likewise, her works contain social justice. Her biggest influences are Rosalía de Castro, Pardo Bazán and Neira Vilas.
Other books by Ángela Banzas
- The silence of the waves (Suma de Letras, 2021);
- The conjuring of the mist (Sum of letters, 2022).