PUSHKIN PRESS
Pushkin Press was founded in 1997, and publishes novels, essays, memoirs, children’s books—everything from timeless classics to the urgent and contemporary.
Our books represent exciting, high-quality writing from around the world: we publish some of the twentieth century’s most widely acclaimed, brilliant authors such as Stefan Zweig, Marcel Aymé, Antal Szerb, Paul Morand and Yasushi Inoue, as well as compelling and award-winning contemporary writers, including Andrés Neuman, Edith Pearlman and Ryu Murakami.
Pushkin Press publishes the world’s best stories, to be read and read again. Here are just some of the titles from our long and varied list. For more amazing stories, visit www.pushkinpress.com.
THE SPECTRE OF ALEXANDER WOLF
GAITO GAZDANOV
‘A mesmerising work of literature’ Antony Beevor
BINOCULAR VISION
EDITH PEARLMAN
‘A genius of the short story’ Mark Lawson, Guardian
TRAVELLER OF THE CENTURY
ANDRÉS NEUMAN
‘A beautiful, accomplished novel: as ambitious as it is generous, as moving as it is smart’ Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Guardian
BEWARE OF PITY
STEFAN ZWEIG
‘Zweig’s fictional masterpiece’ Guardian
THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY
STEFAN ZWEIG
‘The World of Yesterday is one of the greatest memoirs of the twentieth century, as perfect in its evocation of the world Zweig loved, as it is in its portrayal of how that world was destroyed’ David Hare
JOURNEY BY MOONLIGHT
ANTAL SZERB
‘Just divine… makes you imagine the author has had private access to your own soul’ Nicholas Lezard, Guardian
BONITA AVENUE
PETER BUWALDA
‘One wild ride: a swirling helix of a family saga… a new writer as toe-curling as early Roth, as roomy as Franzen and as caustic as Houellebecq’ Sunday Telegraph
THE PARROTS
FILIPPO BOLOGNA
‘A five-star satire on literary vanity… a wonderful, surprising novel’ Metro
I WAS JACK MORTIMER
ALEXANDER LERNET-HOLENIA
‘Terrific… a truly clever, rather wonderful book that both plays with and defies genre’ Eileen Battersby, Irish Times
SONG FOR AN APPROACHING STORM
PETER FRÖBERG IDLING
‘Beautifully evocative… a must-read novel’ Daily Mail
THE RABBIT BACK LITERATURE SOCIETY
PASI ILMARI JÄÄSKELÄINEN
‘Wonderfully knotty… a very grown-up fantasy masquerading as quirky fable. Unexpected, thrilling and absurd’ Sunday Telegraph
RED LOVE: THE STORY OF AN EAST GERMAN FAMILY
MAXIM LEO
‘Beautiful and supremely touching… an unbearably poignant description of a world that no longer exists’ Sunday Telegraph
THE BREAK
PIETRO GROSSI
‘Small and perfectly formed… reaching its end leaves the reader desirous to start all over again’ Independent
FROM THE FATHERLAND, WITH LOVE
RYU MURAKAMI
‘If Haruki is The Beatles of Japanese literature, Ryu is its Rolling Stones’ David Pilling
BUTT ERFLIES IN NOVEMBER
AUÐUR AVA ÓLAFSDÓTTIR
‘A funny, moving and occasionally bizarre exploration of life’s upheavals and reversals’ Financial Times
BARCELONA SHADOWS
MARC PASTOR
‘As gruesome as it is gripping… the writing is extraordinarily vivid… Highly recommended’ Independent
THE LAST DAYS
LAURENT SEKSIK
‘Mesmerising… Seksik’s portrait of Zweig’s final months is dignified and tender’ Financial Times
BY BLOOD
ELLEN ULLMAN
‘Delicious and intriguing’ Daily Telegraph
WHILE THE GODS WERE SLEEPING
ERWIN MORTIER
‘A monumental, phenomenal book’ De Morgen
THE BRETHREN
ROBERT MERLE
‘A master of the historical novel’ Guardian
Copyright
Pushkin Press
71–75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ
Original Spanish text © Tomás González, 1983
English translation © Frank Wynne, 2014
Originally published in Spanish as Primero estaba el mar
This translation first published by Pushkin Press in 2014
ISBN 978 1 782271 11 6
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from Pushkin Press
www.pushkinpress.com
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