The Towpath

I didn't know about Jesus Moncada before its death, on July 2005. Now that I've discovered him, I think he's been one of the most important Catalan writers of the XX century. Towpath is the history of the latest 3 generation of Mequinensa. Through the novel you learn about the different social classes and evolution, prosperity and decline periods, technological improvements, political changes, all of them "surveyed" by the rivers Ebre and Segre (Mequinensa was in the confluence of those rivers). Jesus Moncada has a relatively short work, and the cause is obvious: every sentence is deeply and millimetrically written.

I read the original catalan version of the book and I found it was great. Wonderful and charming characters living in a world and a place that have already disappeared. The place is Mequinensa, a town near the Ebre river that was covered by the water of a dam around the 50's. The people, peasants, workers, rich and poor, striving to be be happy and to understand a world that is quietly changing to modernity. My english is not good enough to praise the book in all its value. Read it !