Gil Pratsobrerroca, the "enormous leap" of a debut writer
The author of 'The Game of Silence' has gone from rejections by some publishers to becoming the second best-seller for Sant Jordi
BarcelonaFor a long time, Gil Pratsobrerroca (Vic, 1996) dreamed that he wanted to be a writer without knowing if he would succeed. "I've always loved writing a lot, since I was little. In school I entered the Sant Jordi contests and then it became a hobby. When I have a free afternoon, I often start writing. It's a process that relaxes me: I don't have to fight with anyone and I make all the decisions," explains the writer, who with El joc del silenci (La Campana) has become one of the big winners of this Sant Jordi. The thriller, with which he debuted in September, has been the second best-selling Catalan fiction book of the Diada behind Regina Rodríguez Sirvent, who has triumphed with Crispetes de matinada, from the same publisher, and who three years ago had a similar journey with her first book, Les calces al sol.
But reaching the coveted Sant Jordi bestseller podium has not been a matter of a few days for Pratsobrerroca. When choosing his university degree, the author opted for political science and sociology "because if I told my parents I wanted to be a writer, they would have wondered what they had done wrong," although he never gave up writing. "This hobby was gaining ground, but I had many insecurities. I needed someone to tell me I was doing well," explains Pratsobrerroca. To test himself, he entered several literary competitions such as the La Garrofera prize in Alcudia de Crespins, the El Porc del Demà short story contest, organized by Pol·len Edicions, and the Ciutat de Tarragona Pin i Soler prize, at which he was a finalist. "They are rather small competitions, but they were very good training for me. When I became a finalist in the Pin i Soler, I started to believe in myself," says the writer.
A component of luck
After university, Pratsobrerroca began to develop a career as a screenwriter. He wrote and directed the TV3 series El teorema del mono (2023) and El creador de influencers (2025, together with Xumari Roca), at the same time that he elaborated a first version of El juego del silencio and knocked on the doors of some publishing houses. "I sent the manuscript to various publishers and no one answered me. I knew Marc Sarrats, who had published with La Magrana, and I asked him if he could lend me a hand," recalls the author. It was then that Penguin Random House signed him.
In hindsight, Pratsobrerroca is very aware that there is "a component of luck" in everything that has happened to him. "I had a certain suspicion that the themes of the novel could connect with readers, that they would see themselves reflected. But from having this intuition to printing 50,000 copies and doing 10 editions, there is a huge leap. Now I realize it," emphasizes the writer. In the novel, a couple from Barcelona who decide to move to a small town in the Pyrenees and there suffer the disappearance of their seven-year-old daughter takes center stage. "I wrote them with the intention that everyone who reads the book can feel identified, or can see someone they know," says the author.
Pratsobrerroca has always been clear that he wanted to move in the realm of thriller because, as a reader, it is the genre he enjoys the most. "It has this point of connecting with people's animality, and that generates interest. We live in a very regulated society. Suddenly, thinking from the murderer's mind can bring us back, in a way, to our essence," reflects the writer, who considers that the current moment —when reading competes with many distractions and with the attractive power of screens— adds yet another challenge to the work of writers. "The thriller has a series of associated resources, such as plot twists and leaving plots hanging, which allow for a psychological analysis of the reader and finding ways for them to continue reading," adds Pratsobrerroca.
Saying yes to everything
The Game of Silence was published in September and four weeks later it entered the list of best-selling books. When it reached that goal, along with the interview Jordi Basté did with him on RAC1, which boosted sales, Pratsobrerroca already began to notice that the book was soaring like a rocket. Over the past few months, the writer has been traveling everywhere to present it. He has visited Andorra, Lleida, Girona, Granollers, Cardedeu, and many other corners of the country. "I've said yes to everything, partly because of the excitement I feel about this first book," says the writer. Now, however, he is taking a month off to breathe, rest, and think about the future. "I will try to take a vacation and think about the next book. I've been told that the second one is the most difficult, I'm prepared for it —assures Pratsobrerroca—. I will stop the promotion, but I will not stop writing, because this is my way of disconnecting."
