All Those Wars - Tapa blanda

Set in a small town in tropical Australia and narrated by the child Rora, the seven stories of 'All Those Wars' evoke new and surprising facets of dramatic events from the first half of the Twentieth Century—the two World Wars and the Spanish Civil War. Rora's stories throw into bold relief an assortment of displaced characters: the rueful veteran of Gallipoli; the flamboyant Elvala and Nando, come from Italy to build a new life; the Polish count who studied piano with Paderewski; the wise circus dwarfs; Jimmy, the aborigine yardman at the Convent; the Irish and Italian families who own the sugar cane farms around the town; Rora's own family, immigrants from northern Spain. As the child astutely assesses the people about her, she begins to see life itself as something of a war.

Novelist, playwright, poet Gloria Montero grew up in Australia in a family of Spanish immigrants. After studies in theatre and music, she began to work in theatre and radio then moved to Canada where she continued her career as writer, broadcaster, scriptwriter, and producer of radio and film documentaries. Writing in both English and Spanish, her books include The Villa Marini, Punto de Fuga, The Summer the Whales Sang, Billy Higgins Rides the Freights, The Immigrants. Her story Ménage à Trois won the 2004 NH Premio de Relato, the first time the prize was awarded to a short story in English. Frida K., the best-known of her theatre work, has been translated and produced in countries around the world. She lives in Barcelona.