Born in Barcelona in 1921, Carmen Laforet spent her childhood and adolescence in the Canary Islands (Las Palmas). After the death of her mother in 1934 and the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), she moved back to Barcelona and enrolled as a humanities student at the University of Barcelona. She studied later in Madrid but did not complete her university education. Focusing on her writing, Laforet wrote short stories and articles for local journals before composing Nada, her first novel and an instant success with critics and publishers. In 1945, the novel received the Premio Nadal, one of Spain’s most prestigious literary prizes, accompanied by a cash award of 5,000 pesetas, a significant amount of money for the time. Laforet has gone on to write three other full-length novels (the most recent, La insolación, in 1963) and several short stories (anthologized in La niña y otros relatos, in 1970). Distinguished as the most notable of all Laforet’s works, Nada reinvigorated Spanish prose through its rich descriptions, distinctive narrative style, and the psychological depth achieved in its portrayal of characters living in post-Civil War Spain.
A devastating war.
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