The Apostles, like sacred animals cut open, repeat to us that they have emptied themselves because they have placed their hearts on others. The real identity of the Christian is to sacrifice himself like this. Jorge Oteiza signed his enigmatic sculpture on the façade of the Basilica of Arantzazu with these words. The work that represents 14 (not 12) hollowed-out apostles.
To the murderer of The Face Thief (Plaza
“We are increasingly the authors of Basque novels and this book is a perfect summary of this genre, which has a lot to do with Nordic criminal literature, because our lives are similar to theirs, due to the isolation, the climate and because of the social themes that we include in the books”, points out Martín, one of the greatest exponents of the Euskandinavian literary movement along with Dolores Redondo, Eva García Sáenz de Urturi and Mikel Santiago.
Basket maker, who after several installments already has a legion of fans, moves this time from the sea to the interior to carry out his investigations and that helps Martín “to introduce into the plot the legends that are very powerful in the Basque Country, a place very rich in mythology”. “These characters from the Basque mountains, valleys and rivers work for me to situate the books but not as magical realism, but as myths and legends that are there and that go through the narrative,” adds the author in an interview with La Vanguardia last week. spent in Barcelona.
These are places that Martín knows very well, since his literary career began by writing excursion guides “because I liked the mountains”. “I dedicated myself for ten years until I realized that what interested me the most was the lead, which had a literary tone. So I tried to write a novel and put it out for sale with the same publisher that published my travel books”, recalls the author.
This is how the adventures of the sub-inspector of the Ertzaintza Ane Cestero were born, “very young, with a brilliant career, although sometimes she acts on her own because what she wants is to stop criminals”. Martín already had four installments of the series with his old editorial when Plaza
There will be more. Martín considers “taking the deputy inspector out of the Basque Country and making her change the landscape so that she can face a case in a more amateur way.” The author lives half the year in the province of Tarragona with his partner and is tempted to take Ane “to some wineries full of old traditions in Priorat or perhaps the Pyrenees”, although he is aware that “rain and sea and raging play a role that generates tension in my novels”, he says. And he is aware that “perhaps in the light of the Mediterranean that atmosphere will fade.” His is a pure Basque novel.
