Manuel Rivas has been heralded as one of the brightest in a new wave of Spanish writers influenced by Spanish and European traditions, as well as by the history of Spain over the past seventy years. A bestseller in Spain, The Carpenter's Pencil has been published in nine countries.

Set in the dark days of the Spanish Civil War, The Carpenter's Pencil charts the linked destinies of a remarkable cast of unique characters. All are bound by the events of the Civil War-the artists and the peasants alike-and all are brought to life, in Rivas's skillful hand, with the power of the carpenter's pencil, a pencil that draws both the measured line and the artist's dazzling vision.

Translated from the Galician by Jonathan Dunne.

"A profound tale of love, art, politics and the lingering effects of a gentleness and cruelty on the soul." (The Miami Herald)

"Rivas is a master . . . You never know, at the beginning of a paragraph, where he will take you. His pages bloom like flowers, swerving in unpredictable arcs toward a light-source that is constantly moving." (Bookforum)

"He is an important storyteller because he is sensitive and has an incredible ear, which, in his fiction, is allied to great ingenuity." (John Berger)