The love and friendship between the painter Josep Maria Sert and a humble girl from Ciutat Vella

BarcelonaThe passage, the novel with which Maria Carme Roca (Barcelona, ​​​​1955) has won the Santa Eulàlia prize for the novel, worth 25,000 euros, and begins in the booming Barcelona of the late 19th century. The demolition of the city walls, the construction of the Eixample, the effervescent world of theatre and the hive of textile factories – full of workers and activity – are the background for a story of friendship, love and revenge starring the painter and muralist Josep Maria Sert, and a humble girl from the Sant Pere neighbourhood.

Josep Maria Sert meets Regina Soldevila for the first time while spying on her through the window of the passage where he lives, in the Sant Pere neighbourhood of Barcelona. He is an elusive boy who, years later, would begin a brilliant international career as a painter and decorator, with milestones such as the murals of the neoclassical cathedral of San Pedro de Vic, the Wagnerian-inspired works that he painted for the Maricel Palace in Sitges and the decoration of the New York Rockefeller hattan. The jury has highlightedThe passage which conveys "the essence of a neighbourhood in Barcelona that has been little explored in literary terms", as well as "the author's meticulous work of historical documentation" and the recreation "of a cultural map of the city closely marked by the theatre". "The novel knows how to contrast Sert's cosmopolitanism with the Barcelona that is conscious of its neighbourhood, deeply rooted in the city and proud to be part of it", recalled Fèlix Riera, editor and president of the Romea Foundation.

Sant Pere, a neighbourhood that is little known in literary terms

"The Cirici passage, then called the Manufacturas passage, is one of the corners where the novel takes place, which is parallel to the Sert passage," says Maria Carme Roca. "They are charming passageways that are found in a little-known neighbourhood. San Pedro was one of the key places to understand the industrialisation of the city." Roca has recalled some of the transformations of the Barcelona she portrays at the time, from the Universal Exhibition to the Tragic Week. "Sert went to Paris in 1899, when he was 25, but he never stopped returning to Barcelona," she explains. "Regina falls in love with Sert immediately, but she knows that she cannot marry because she comes from a humble class. She even comes to serve for a while in his house... Sert liked all women, but he did not like all women."

A The passage There are also dark characters and some murders –"They always work, in novels," he admits–, and a malevolent stepmother who plays a fundamental role, inspired by traditional tales such as Snow White and the fables she collected. Joan Amades. "I don't like my protagonists to be chards," says the novelist in relation to Regina Soldevila, who must transform herself several times throughout the novel: the action begins at the end of the 19th century, but goes through the Tragic Week, the Second Republic, the Civil War and the first decade of the postwar period.

Since she decided to dedicate herself professionally to writing in 1997, Maria Carme Roca has published more than fifty novels, including the historical novel Néstor Luján with Palace intrigues (2006) and the Prudenci Bertrana with The lighthouse (2018). "Many of my books take place in Barcelona because I love it," says the author, who in The passage In addition to Sert, it also brings together historical figures of great relevance such as the actress Margarida Xirgu and the patron Isabel Llorach.

Organized by the publishing houses Comanegra and Àfora –the latter linked to the Focus Group–, the Santa Eulàlia award celebrates its "consolidation" this year, as Jordi Puig, from Comanegra, recalled: "We have just launched the fifth edition of Voices of death in the Encants Vells, by Sylvia Lagarda-Mata, winning novel of the previous edition". The record was inaugurated in 2023 by Lluís-Anton Baulenas with I will be your mirror.