The Goldsmith's Secret

Although Elia Barceló’s second novel to be translated into English may be short, the language is no less thought-provoking or passionate than the passages of Heart of Tango.

A middle-aged goldsmith returns to his native Spain in the hope of finding his long lost love Celia. However, he quickly realises that there is something different about the town where he grew up. It has changed: it has not moved forward, but rather it seems strangely reminiscent of a time gone by. On his quest to find Celia, he comes across her younger self and realises that he has somehow inadvertently and inexplicably been drawn into the past.

As with Heart of Tango, Barceló uses parallel times and love affairs to draw together a story about enduring passion and the poignancy of nostalgia and thwarted love. Barceló cleverly intersperses passages set in the Goldsmith’s present day, in 1999, with passages which take place during his youth and passages in the 1950s, before he was even born. The concept may sound far-fetched and although the narrative is slightly predictable, there is no denying the alluring and almost addictive charm of Barceló’s fantastical blend of love and heartache.

David Frye succeeds again in bringing Barceló’s characters and their visceral emotions alive to an English-speaking audience.