num_pages: 165
description: It is the summer of 1936, the early months of the agonising civil war that engulfs Spain and shakes the rest of the world. In a prison in the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela, an artist sketches the famous porch of the cathedral, the Portico da Gloria. He uses a carpenter's pencil. But instead of reproducing the sculptured faces of the prophets and elders, he draws the faces of his fellow Republican prisoners.Many years later in post-Franco Spain, a survivor of that period, Doctor Daniel da Barca, returns from exile to his native Galicia, and the threads of past memories begin to be woven together. This poetic and moving novel conveys the horror and savagery of the tragedy that divided Spain, and the experiences of the men and women who lived through it. Yet in the process, it also relates one of the most beautiful love stories imaginable.
language: English
title: The Carpenter's Pencil
titlecomplete: The Carpenter's Pencil
genres: Spanish Literature, 20th Century, Spain, Historical Fiction, Historical, Novels, Spanish Civil War, Literature, War, Fiction
ratings_count: 3175
places: Spain
awards: awardedAt: 883641600000
name: Premio de la Crítica de Narrativa Galega, awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Premio San Clemente Rosalía-Abanca
category: Lingua galega
publisher: Vintage