Editor in Turner and second prize winner at the 2020 Adonais Prize for her collection of poems, “La edad ligera” (The Light Age), Marta Jiménez Serrano (Madrid, 1990) debuts as a narrator with “Los nombres propios” ...

an autobiographical novel of apparent simplicity and ingenuity, which narrates, through Belaundia Fu, the imaginary friend of a seven-year-old girl named Marta, at various stages of the young woman's life, from childhood to the present day and through her first love.

Thanks to Belaundia, Bela for short, invisible and awkward, Marta will discover why her father, who is almost always absent, dazzles her, while she is not able to see her mother, who “is there all the time”, “in everything”. The voice of this friend of hers explains the world, keeps her company and pesters her, especially when she warns that thet boy she is falling in love with, Christian, with his earring, his basketball smell, and his references to Cortázar, is not a good choice.

Read more: El Cultural