La Caja Azul / The Blue Box

«No s c mo comenzar a contaros esta historia, la de la caja azul. Mi madre ten a una vida secreta que solo la conoc an mi abuela y t a Teresa, nadie m s en la familia.

Durante a os buscaron a mi abuelo Antonio, padre, marido y hermano, soldado del ej rcito Republicano desaparecido en combate en la Batalla del Ebro. Tan secreta fue esta b squeda que solo un par de d as antes de morir mi madre se atrevi a compartirlo conmigo, a hablar de mi abuelo y de la caja azul.

Ah estaba yo, a los pies de su cama, recibiendo una caja de cart n azul. Le promet que no la abrir a hasta pasadas unas semanas, despu s de su muerte.

Dos d as despu s me dej hu rfano. Pas mucho tiempo hasta que me arm de valor para quitar la tapa. En su interior, cartas, recortes de peri dicos, documentos de campos de prisioneros, fotograf as, notas de la Cruz Roja... El trabajo de tres mujeres solas durante la posguerra buscando al hombre que quer an... Ah naci esta novela . -Jos Antonio Ponseti

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

The story of a family that kept a secret in a blue box.

"I don't know how to start telling this story, the story of the blue box. My mother had a secret life, known only to my grandmother and aunt Teresa; no one else in the family knew.

For years they looked for my grandfather Antonio--father, husband, and brother--a soldier in the Republican army, missing in action at the Battle of Ebro. The search was so secret, that only a couple of days before she died, my mother dared share it with me, to speak of my grandfather and the blue box. I promised I wouldn't open it until a few weeks after her death.

Two days later, I was an orphan. It was a long time before I worked up the courage to remove the lid. Inside, letters, newspaper clippings, prisoner camps documents, photographs, Red Cross notes... The work of three women alone during postwar years, looking for a man they loved... Right there, this novel was born." --Jos Antonio Ponseti