The best books written in Spain by foreigners

Nothing is more evocative than a place where time seems to stand still, the sun shines sometimes kindly and other times relentlessly, the rain refreshes the sidewalks or floods them with melancholy, the sunset takes on a passionate red, and the sunrise tints the sky with Mediterranean blue.

It is not strange, then, that our country has called upon the inspiration of different international authors, some of whom we are going to mention.

Perhaps the most famous internationally renowned writer in love with Spain is Hemingway. As you all know, he was a correspondent during the bloody Civil War. From his experience in the conflict emerged the words of ; but perhaps the best known were those he dedicated to Pamplona in his work (Fiesta) internationally known.

It could be said that Byron was the ace of hearts, so following this game, we could say that three other aces of the Romantic deck followed him. We will cite George Sand, Prosper Merimée, and Washington Irving. The presence of the famous French author alongside her beloved Chopin is remembered in the Balearic Islands thanks to her travel diary ; Merimée is famous for having shaped that archetype of the passionate, strong-willed, and fatal woman that is Carmen; and Washington Irving left behind the darkness of Sleepy Hollow to travel to Granada and tell us the wonderful stories of

Andalusia bewitched many authors... and even saved the life and work of others. The Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke traveled to Ronda. He felt its grandeur and was frustrated realizing he could not capture its beauty in words. It reached a point where he attempted suicide; but the spirit of the city called to him, and without leaving his room, he composed his famous

That inner sadness and tragedy also inspired Virginia Woolf. The author never set foot in Spain, but she was deeply moved by the events of the Civil War, especially by the loss of a nephew who participated in that dark chapter of our history as an ambulance driver.

We have spoken of English, American, French, and Austrian authors... But Spain has also called to authors from those countries with which it shares a language! Mario Vargas Llosa himself has been named a marquess by the Crown, and Gabriel García Márquez would find his second home in the city of Barcelona.

We could be writing pages and pages about these authors and much more; but we lack the space. However, and as a matter of curiosity, we are going to cite a case that we loved. It is that of Robert Wilson, a Scottish crime novelist whose emblematic character... is a Sevillian policeman! His name is Javier Falcón, and although we could imagine them starring in typical and stereotypical stories, he is almost a classic detective, a kind of authentic and modern Spanish Sam Spade.

That's why we want to tell you something, to conclude. If you are aspiring writers... Why don't you come to Spain with us?