A novel about the childhood of Guifré el Pilós wins the Nèstor Luján prize

BarcelonaErnest Prunera (Sabadell, 1973) wanted to write a biography of Guifré el Pilós, but when he set about it he found that the information about that period, the second half of the 9th century, was "scarce and uncertain", so he changed his mind and allowed fiction into the project, which became one. When the storm passes (Column) imagines the childhood of Guifré el Pilós, when he was still a child without honors or glory. The book features Marwan, a young homosexual Muslim who acts as Guifré's tutor, and is the winner of the 29th Néstor Luján Historical Novel Award. "It's a very well-written work about a complex period in history," says Maria Carme Roca, a member of the award's jury, adding that one of the book's strengths is "how it explores a rarely fictionalized historical moment, transforming the lack of documentation into a freedom to create stories."

When the storm passes It is the second novel by Prunera, who debuted with The King's Gold (Angels Fortune) in 2020. Faced with the difficulties in finding reliable information about this historical period, the writer relied on the book The first Catalan counts, by Ramón de Abadal, which sets forth the theory that Guifré was the son of Sunifred, Count of Urgell and Cerdanya. From there, his imagination took flight. "I combine historical characters with fictional ones," says Prunera. Among the former are—apart from Guifré and his family—Bernat of Septimania and his sons. "He was an ambitious and honorable man who stood up to the King of France. He is the enemy of the novel. His son William begins as a capricious young man and ends up becoming a cruel man like his father," notes the writer.

When Catalonia was not yet Catalonia

Marwan is the central character of the story, a man Prunera created by filling him with shadows. "He has a past that makes him very pessimistic. His dual status as a Muslim and homosexual means he's always on the verge of death, but in the end, he survives," notes the author. In this sense, the novel draws on the "spirit of overcoming difficulties" and seeks to convey the message that "even when things go wrong, we always end up making it," says Prunera. Sunifred entrusts him with acting as Guifré's tutor with the aim of giving her son a vision of the Frankish world, but also of the Muslim world. "It was a time when the Catalan counties were invaded by Muslim raids," notes Prunera, who adds that "Marwan's presence as Guifré's tutor is undocumented." Another of the book's key fictional characters is Lilit, a sorceress with magical powers. "I wanted a strong female character. She's a woman with her own criteria, who uses magic to go where she wants and who, when she has to change sides or her opinion, does so without remorse," explains Prunera.

The story of Marwan and Guifré takes place during the High Middle Ages—the book focuses only on five years, from 843 to 848—before the birth of Catalonia as a unitary and national territory. In fact, the words "marsala" never appear in the novel. Catalonia neither Catalans"It's not a nationalist novel, nor one that claims land rights. Guifré was the father of the Catalan homeland, but when you focus on it, you see that he didn't think in terms of a nation, but rather of a territory. They didn't have the concept of a homeland; they were managers of counties," Prunera emphasizes.