Three short stories set in BARCELONA

Barcelona Dreaming by Rupert Thomson, three short stories set in Barcelona.

Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2022, Fiction, With a Sense of Place.

Barcelona is the star at the heart of these three stories, from Sarrià to Castelldefels, around the city and beyond. If you know the city, it will feel very familiar through the colourful descriptions which act as a backdrop to these convincing and at times just slightly surreal, off-key stories. The author is a natural storyteller with an inventive and enquiring mind. He has a gift for fleshing out a story that moves along without the reader really been consciously aware that life is moving on. Within the novella format, the author deeply immerses the reader into three different worlds, bound by the city and by the occasional chosen character.

The first story is a cracker and sees Amy, now in her 50s and divorced, running a gift shop and embarking on a relationship with a man from Morocco, who is half her age. They meet in extraordinary and seemingly quite unsafe circumstances but she is someone who pushes on with determination and a good heart. The trajectory of the story bowls along with a few surprises along the way.

The second story involves Ronaldinho (he is a famous footballer) in a rather clever and tantalising way, seen through the eyes of a musician with a bit of an alcohol problem. Story three features a translator and a specific piece of furniture – yes, intriguing given the specific components.

The stories – fables, even – all have slightly uncanny premises which add a frisson of anticipation to each narrative. Throughout there are relationships that come and go, there are themes that pulse throughout, providing an entertaining and mesmerising read.