The skin of water

Pre-Olympic Barcelona from the eighties: alive, dense and raw. The Pope’s visit under persistent rain. A woman who has run from a turbulent past and settled into the bourgeois and claustrophobic upper part of Barcelona. A journey of no return down Las Ramblas, amongst knowledgeable transvestites, infectious sex and enigmatic men. All against the backdrop of childhood memories of the river and mountains of the south of the country. La pell de l’aigua is a deeply thought-provoking novel. It excellently describes the confl uence of dream and reality which the protagonist inhabits and the lower part of Barcelona which has ceased to exist, but persists in this book. Isabel Olesti reveals herself as a writer of great talent and distinct voice.