3 minute read
The prisoners of paradise
BOOK REVIEW
THE PRISONERS OF PARADISE
Advertisement
Author: Xavier Güell From the reader report by: Jamie Mullin
I found the approach to this story to be unique and original. The story of the life of the musicians at Theresienstadt collaborating and creating art as prisoners in the grimmest of circumstances is told beautifully. As they navigate the tragic realities of the loss of their past lives, including separation from their families, illness, death, and not knowing how much time they themselves have, there is a vivid sense of immediacy and connection to their work, and the life-sustaining power of art and music in the community. Though it was due to the propaganda campaign that Nazis allowed the prisoners to have an artistic life, they embraced it fully as their only form of resistance, injecting messages of the struggles of their reality into the performances and using the time afforded to them to live through their work.
I believe this novel is suitable for translation and will find a receptive audience in the US. As historical fiction, the novel offers a unique plot connecting the inner world of the Theresienstadt ghetto with high levels of the Nazi regime, providing a moving glimpse into how the prisoners may have found strength through their art.
PUBLISHED IN NEW SPANISH BOOKS US
GALAXIA GUTENBERG
Title THE PRISONERS OF PARADISE LOS PRISIONEROS DEL PARAÍSO
Author Xavier Güell Genre Literature Pages 320
ISBN 978-84-81098-02-0 Year of publication 2017 Number of editions 1 Language Spanish Spanish retail price 19.90 €
Author’s biography: Xavier Güell was born in Barcelona in 1956. He studied at the Conservatories of Barcelona and Madrid, and he studied orchestral direction with Franco Ferrara in Italy, Sergiu Celibidache in Germany, and Leonard Bernstein in the United States. For years, he conducted orchestras in Spain and other countries, and he produced many new works by major composers of our time, becoming one of the people in Spain who has most contributed to the diffusion of contemporary music. He published his first book in 2015, The Music of Memory, which seduced thousands of readers with its first person narration of the lives and works of the greatest geniuses of music: Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Wagner, and Mahler. Two years later, in 2017, he published the novel The Prisoners of Paradise. In 2019, the publisher Galaxia Gutenberg came out with Güell’s I, Gaudi, in both Castilian Spanish and Catalan.
Synopsis: Prague, August 10, 1942. Hans Krasa, a Czech composer and orchestra conductor of Jewish origin, is arrested by the SS and sent to the concentration camp at Theresienstadt. A good number of other musicians, composers, and singers have been imprisoned with hi. Adolf Eichmann wants to turn Theresienstadt into a model camp, to show the world that Jews are not only exterminated but that they are also permitted to maintain an intense culture life, composing and interpreting music at the highest level. Hans, who is under no illusions about the fate that awaits them, accepts the diabolical game proposed by the Nazis. His goal is to live. In addition to the musicians, the novel has another protagonist, Elisabeth von Leuenberg, who comes from an aristocratic background and is one of the most prominent scientists in Nazi Germany. All of these characters are used by Xavier Güell to create a beautiful homage to music.
Publisher who has published: Galaxia Gutenberg S.L. Publisher: Galaxia Gutenberg is an independent Spanish publishing company. We have a very successful literary and humanistic catalogue that combines fiction and non-fiction, as well as poetry and other genres. Publishing rights available from: Galaxia Gutenberg S.L.- CIF B65521957 Diagonal, 361 1-1 A. 08037 Barcelona, Barcelona www.galaxiagutenberg.com Contact: Maria Ridao Mestres [mridao@galaxiagutenberg.com] Phone: (+34) 664 100 983
Countries where the rights have been sold: Poland (Wydawnictwo Czarna Owca) Prizes and reviews: This book has been praised in numerous high-quality news outlets, such as the newspapers El País and La Vanguardia. Comments: This novel by Güell has strong commercial and cinematographic potential, and it could be turned into a series.
