Helena or the sea of summer

Julián Ayesta's only longer prose work, the short novel "Helena or The Sea of Summer" from 1952, is one of the "ten most important books of Spanish prose in the 20th century," according to El País. In reminiscent retrospect, a world of sensual abundance emerges as a boy experiences it in the midst of his carefree family clan. The breaking points to adulthood, where the certainties of childhood dissolve, are suggestively illuminated. The book tells a story of initiation, in which summer and the sea become symbols of youthful departure and the boundlessness of first love. A bucolic world is evoked, an oasis of time shortly before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. "Helena or the Sea of Summer" is a jewel of sensitive storytelling that has been rediscovered with overwhelming success in Spain.