Perhaps because it is her most intimate book, Antònia Carré-Pons (Terrassa, 1960) states in a hushed tone – "lest my other books get angry" – that The big family (Club Editor) is her favorite novel. The writer, medievalist philologist and editor of Cal Carré, has reason to be proud. From her memories, she has constructed a beautiful story about the relationship between two sisters, daughters of butchers, who take on the family business and life in completely opposite ways: Rateta makes literature her vocation, Sió takes the reins of the shop and continues the inherited trade. With the skill that comes with experience (this is her tenth fiction title), Carré-Pons delivers a story about buried feelings and the strength of family bonds that is read with emotion and tenderness.

Kindness, austerity, trust, perseverance, loyalty, honesty, solidarity, realism. The family—the extended family of the title—of the narrator of Antònia Carré-Pons's new novel, Montserrat Vidal, owns a delicatessen, and these are the values—the values of a shopkeeper—that she learns.