Tears in Rain (54 page)

As more than one reader will no doubt have guessed, the beautiful quotation at the beginning of this book, “What I do shows me what I seek,” is not from Sulagnés, the artist from the planet Gnío, but from the French abstract artist Pierre Soulages—creator, among other things, of a fascinating series of huge, completely black paintings.

Photograph © Violeta de Lama, 2011

Rosa Montero is an acclaimed novelist and an award-winning journalist for the Spanish newspaper
El País
. A native of Madrid and the daughter of a professional bullfighter, Montero published her first novel at age twenty-eight. She has won Spain’s top book award, the Qué Leer Prize, twice—for
The Lunatic of the House
in 2003 and
Story of the Transparent King
in 2005. A prolific author of twenty-six books, her other titles include the short-story collection
Lovers and Enemies
and the novels
Beautiful and Dark, My Beloved Boss
, and
The Heart of the Tartar
.

Lilit Žekulin Thwaites is a Hispanist specializing in contemporary Spanish literature, a literary translator, and former Head of the Spanish department of La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. She lives in Melbourne with her husband, Tim, and their three children.