Tea Rooms

Its common knowledge that the stomach is amoral.

Behind the counters of one of the most exclusive cafés in the city, Matilde is learning the ropes. As the eldest child of a large, poor family, her meagre salary is spread very thin. Alongside her toils Antonia, a widow who dares not risk her own salary by striking for better treatment; young Marta, impoverished and hungry, with one eye on the till; and Laurita, who spends most of her shifts flirting with the actors who sit near the counter. Each woman grasps for happiness and dignity; each woman will be confronted by the shocking, even deathly, results of asking for more in a world that wants them to be less.

Luisa Carnés’ modernist magnum opus uses the microcosm of the tea room to explore a society in foment. Tea Rooms remains as radical now as it was on first publication.

‘Luisa Carnés uses literature like a loaded gun’ - El País

Translated by Annie McDermott and Robin Munby.