The House of Silence (23 page)

I am leaving and I hope to return. Right now I feel very well. They've told me that traveling could suddenly ruin my fragile health,
but you know how doctors are, they're always exaggerating . . . and I feel up to it. So you have fifteen days to think it over . . . And, when I return . . . will you please give me an answer? We are both old enough and we know each other so well! I no longer want to be with any other women, if that is what worries you—even though I don't think that's ever been much of an issue for you. If you say yes, I'd like to take you to my Kollwitzplatz . . . We'll travel to Berlin and we'll bring the Stainer with us and you can play the song about the peasant girl and the shepherd there where I used to play . . . And I will feel proud of having taught you a few notes that you could put soul into, the soul you've carried inside you ever since your parents taught you to sing what I wouldn't let you. And I will hold you close and we will be happy, Maria.

But . . . don't worry, because, if you don't want to be with me . . . I mean, more than you have been up until now . . . if you don't want anything more, I promise that I will keep the distance that you deserve and respect your decision, keeping the distance that we have maintained between us over the course of these forty wonderful years.

Yours always,

KARL

P.S. Oh, I forgot to mention: I promised Anna that I'd marry her, in exchange for the violin. Don't worry about that, I'll marry her, but we'll be rid of her soon enough: As soon as she sees how little attention I pay her, she'll leave me.

AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH: © JOAN PUERTO

Blanca Busquets
is a Catalan writer and radio journalist. She began writing at the age of twelve and has published seven novels, which have been translated into Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Polish, Norwegian, and French. Her fifth novel,
La Nevada Del Cucut,
was the winner of the 2011 Catalan Booksellers' Prize. She lives in Barcelona, Spain.

Mara Faye Lethem
has translated novels by Jaume Cabré, David Trueba, Albert Sánchez Piñol, Javier Calvo, Patricio Pron, Marc Pastor, and Toni Sala, among others. These books have been featured as
New York Times
and
Booklist
Editors' Picks, and among the Best Books of the Year in
The Times
and Readers' Favourite Books in the
Financial Times.
Her translation of
The Whispering City,
by Sara Moliner, recently received an English PEN Award.

65 Bleecker Street

New York, NY 10012

Copyright © Blanca Busquets Oliu, 2013, 2016

Copyright © Mara Faye Lethem, 2015

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Regan Arts Subsidiary Rights Department, 65 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents, and dialogue, except for incidental references to real persons, places, or products, are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, places or products are coincidental and is not intended to refer to any actual persons, places, or products.

First Regan Arts hardcover edition, October 2016

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016939705

ISBN 978-1-68245-030-7

ISBN 978-1-68245-031-4 (ebook)

Interior design by Nancy Singer

Cover design by Chin-Yee Lai

Front Jacket Photographs: Woman © Thinkstock / Getty; Violin © Jorgelum / Getty