Dolores Redondo
Dolores Redondo is one of today’s most famous writers. She won a premio Planeta and three of her novels have been adapted for the small screen, making her a literary reference and one of the biggest phenomena in current Spanish literature.
Like for all great writers, it is interesting to know about her career before going into her literary work. If this writer is known for anything, it is for “La Trilogía de Baztán” a work that we will analyse later in this post.
Dolores Redondo was born in San Sebastián, in February 1969, and although her love of writing began when she was only 14, she decided to study Law. A degree that she did not finish and left to work in restaurant business. She worked in this field for several years and even opened her own restaurant.
Like other writers, she started her career writing short stories and children’s stories. Her first publication was in 2009 with “Los privilegios del ángel”, although it was not until 2013 that she published the novel with which she is known worldwide, “El guardián invisible”. This was the first of the “Baztán Trilogy”, the last book of which was published in 2014.
Despite the fame due to the trilogy, she claims to be a person with simple tastes and quite habits. She has sometimes said that getting her books published was never easy, that she even still keeps all the rejection letters and that the important thing is not to give up, to keep going and to believe in oneself.
The “Baztan trilogy” is a noir novel, based on a real crime that took place in Navarre and whose film adaptation can be seen on Netflix. In it, the finding of the body of a teenager on the banks of the river Baztán is the prelude to a thrilling story of investigation and suspense.
Her latest book, entitled “Esperando al diluvio”, is another noir novel full of mysteries and crimes based on real events. In this new novel, a serial killer wanted in Glasgow and never identified is pursued by the detective Noah Scott. Behind this plot lies a tribute to work, music and the love stories that emerge at a glance.
Finally, as a curious fact, the writer dedicates her work to the goddess Mari, perhaps seeking her favour. Mari is a Basque deity of nature, whose children are the wind, the rain and the clouds. The deity is tidy with those who make offerings to her. But when she is made angry, she unleashes terrible storms that cause famines.
If you like literature, check out our other blog post on Eva García Sáenz de Urturi, a writer who in 2020 also won the Planeta prize, one of the most important Spanish-language literature prizes.
