Bruno Blog

Today I write in the blog and I don’t even know if I’ll be on time to upload it on Thursday at 12 o’clock as every week, but it’s been hard for me to focus, to feel the need to write, because these last days I’ve been feeling down. There are several circumstances that make one feel down and sometimes it’s hard to guess if there is any reason behind it or it is caused by a mix of stuff and circumstances. After three days really angry with myself, I think in my case it’s because of that accumulation of several things that I’ve wanted to say but I have left unsaid, that I’ve wanted to do but I have left undone, and I’ve gone against myself, almost without even realising, my body reacts with this sorrow.

What is going on in the streets doesn’t help either, it is a tense moment, and from my point of view, it is unfair too, although we’ve all made mistakes. And if you add to that those little moments that things don’t go on as you’d like to, or people that you appreciate don’t react the way you’d have wished, that becomes sadness. For that reason, today I want to suggest one of the books that has helped me, and that will always help me: EL MASAJISTA DE LAS ALMAS by Josecho Vizcay. The book is made up of 22 real stories of self-improvement that help us understand how important it is to communicate, speak out and get over the fears and how to know which limits we do impose to ourselves. It’s is exactly what has happened to me these days and I’ve not known how to manage.

With this great book you have an easy, clear and useful tool to improve your self-esteem, your confidence and solve conflicts that are, apparently, unsolvable. Whatever remains unsaid, rots. You’ve to know how and when to express those things you want to say. So in a moment dialogue is lacking, in my case even in the personal field, I think a book like Josecho’s can be a little drop in the middle of the desert. I hope we are on time so that this blog goes up as always, the book deserves it, and the author even more. Reading it has encouraged me to write this little piece that keeps getting tougher to write every week, but that I don’t want to give up on doing because I know it goes out there and it’s a little speaker amongst editors and friends. Thanks for finding time to follow us.

We are celebrating Halloween, a festivity we don’t tend to celebrate here but that has gained importance and has deeply established here with the American ‘‘trick or treat’’ tradition. November the 1^st is the Day of the Death, in Spain it is ‘el  Día de Todos los Santos’, day in which many families visit their death relatives and friends in the cemeteries. It’s a sad festivity surrounded by terror because of the halloweeny tradition, but that has never called my attention. It makes me sad to think about those who are not here anymore, but I must admit that the magic and witchcraft that November the 1^st hides, does call my attention. That is the reason why I cannot stop suggesting the book MANUAL DE MAGIA MODERNA by KEYLAH MISSEN. A book that the author, reiki master, physiotherapist and knowledgeable of the magical arts since childhood, has created a simple and easy to manage manual, though to initiate the reader on the basic esoteric  tools, from reiki to tarot, the pendulum, numerology and many others. With it we learn how to attract beneficial spirits, how to clean our house by using the stones, how to create a favorable environment for our wishes through the magic candles and even how to get in contact with our totemic spirit. We will also find the keys to create our own magic spells and magical tools, such as pendulums and wands; prosperity rituals, of protection and love; tips on how to improve your health and on how to boost beauty. A passionate introduction on magical spells and esoteric techniques to experiment power and the joy of magic day to day.

We know through historic tradition that women who knew how to heal were called witches, and that there was a woman on TV who only by moving her nose helped anyone she bumped into. So if there exist good witches and in this manual rites are positive, aiming to strengthen the good ideals it is, therefore, a present for a night like yesterday’s to invoke that calm, justice, honesty and peace rule the world. Tuesday’s terrorist attack in Manhattan has again touched our hearts. Violence and crispation don’t bring anything other than discomfort, so maybe a magic manual to combat all of this is necessary. Maybe we don’t have the exact potion yet, but with everyone’s eagerness to believe it we are taking a massive step. Do we try?

I’m lucky enough that I get to work with something I love, to live surrounded by books, and to try and get the stories that reach me, these exciting, moving, deep stories, reach other people too. Quite often I think it is too big a responsibility, because not all styles are the same, not everyone thinks the same, not everyone makes us vibrate the same. But there is a common denominator to assess, in some way, what we believe must be published and, surely we are wrong many times, both for good and bad, but only consciously making mistakes let’s learn. I just hope that this time, with the work of Empar Fernandez, HOTEL LUTECIA, I’m not mistaken, because reading it we fell in love with the story and how it was told. Especially how it was told, because when reading there are times when I got goose bumps, moments when I could not help feeling the anguish of the characters that await in that hotel news of their families, and moments in the that I could not help thinking that I hope historical moments that only brought terror and violence do not repeat themselves. To avoid them, we must avoid falling into a gray past, where repression imposition and authoritarianism led to one of the worst epochs of our history.

The Lutecia Hotel in Paris, which is currently closed for renovation, was a luxurious Art Deco hotel where some famous writers stayed, but it also had a darker era when it became the headquarter of the Nazi General State. Later on, it was turned into an center for survivors of concentration camps. It is in this hotel that Andreu Ribera, protagonist of the novel, goes when he leaves the Dachau camp of at the end of World War II, to try and have news of his wife, Rosa. There, at the Lutecia Hotel, the Red Cross welcomes the deportees and organizes the information that gets to the capital: endless lists of dead people, of missing people and, less likely, of survivors.

With this family saga marked by an impossible love story, magnificently set between France and Spain, and narrated with great sensitivity, Empar Fernández dares to try something new and different from the rest of her novels. This is a novel that tells the life of an exiled Catalan Republican, Andreu Ribera, who ends up in a Nazi concentration camp and who, at the end of World War II, can’t return to Catalonia and thus is forced to start a new life in French Provence. Composed of two narratives, it first tells the story of Andreu and then, the story of his son André who, in 1969, who travels to Poble Sec, an emblematic neighborhood of Barcelona, ​​in search of answers. Thanks to his grandfather Andres, both the reader and André will know the murky secrets of the Ribera family.

An intense novel, which recounts the cruelest reality of an era, which moves the reader but at the same time, wraps us in the atmosphere of Paris, Provence and Barcelona, ​​with a relaxing aroma of lavender and a deep, elegant writing style, which won´t leave anyone indifferent, that´s for sure. Great characters, an exceptional narrative and a horrendous historical background told in a such a perfect way, to make sure it never happens again.

Every time I go on a trip without my family I feel homesick. Then, when I arrive at the destination, I feel better and I get to work. But I have never liked to leave my routine. I thought it would pass over the years, but it didn’t, it has actually gotten worse. I feel something like a knot in my stomach. I don’t like to be away from them, it’s a strange but beautiful feeling at the same time, because I have the luck of being well at home, of feeling comfortable and happy in my space and in tune with myself and the people around me.

However, when I read Diana Quan‘s book, EL PARAÍSO ES TU CASA, I realized that I could improve my comfort at home by following the advice she gives on light, harmony and order. They are simple tips to help us turn our home, which is where most of us feel the best, into an oasis where we can relax and be happy. This is a very helpful book in which Diana shares with us her Far-Eastern roots as well as  her family’s, who is still living in China, where home is always the place where you should feel good. Could we have this here in the Western world? I’m sure that this book will help many people to achieve it. Knowledge does not take up any space, and today looking for our well-being is a necessity, not a luxury, so go for it.

This week we are at the Frankfurt Book Fair, which we hope will be fruitful for everyone in the sector. As always, the agency team is working hard to get our authors translated into many languages, so that they can be read around the world. This is not an easy task, as there is a lot of competition, but our authors have awesome books that deserve to cross borders, so we can do this!

Besides, Frankfurt is the meeting place for all our friends in publishing, with whom exchange so many emails, but whom we only see twice a year. And just for that, it´s worth doing the trip: being able to talk in person, being able to give a hug… It is priceless, and it is also a way to keep nurturing these friendships we have created by working together for years. It´s one side of the job I love.

So, I wish you all a very good fair, and let´s hope everyone loves our catalogues as much as we love them.

Here you can download the complete catalog of the titles represented by Sandra Bruna Literary Agency.

And for publishers working in the Spanish, Portuguese and LATAM markets, here you can download our NEWBOOKSNEWS, with a selection of the hottest titles from the proprietors we represent.