Library of Unrequited Love
What can you tell us about your new book The Library of Unrequited Love?
It's a sort of fantasy in the form of a librarian's personal crisis: she is torn between her love for her job and the lack of love in her life. She pours out all her frustrations, all her desire, her disappointments and her hopes in a long tirade addressed to a poor, unfortunate reader who is locked in the library.
The book is set in a library, so is this somewhere you spend a lot of your time?
It's the cultural centre that I personally visit the most, not least because it's free. In addition, the book is dedicated to “all those men and women who will always find a place for themselves in a library more easily than in society”.
Who are your favourite authors?
There are too many to mention here, but Virginia Woolf and Clarice Lispector are novelists who opened passionate and literary paths.
What is your favourite book?
I'm torn between Madame Bovary and The Hite Report.
Did you come up with the story while you were in a library, or did you gain the inspiration from elsewhere?
In the library, of course, since it's a natural place for me to be. I also do a lot of research. But, you know, one can only write from one's experiences.
Tell us about your writing background.
I've always written a lot. Initially I chose an academic education and a subject that connected me with the world of writing: journalism. But I put this to one side. Literary writing is a far more personal and uncertain. You move into unknown territory and learn little by little what it is you want to do.
Which authors do you feel have affected the writing of this book?
I can think of books, rather than authors: Maupassant (his novels), Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Asco), Patrick Suskind (The Double Bass).
What is next for you as this is your debut novel?
I've written texts that are very different to “The Library of Unrequited Love”. I think the next will be a surprise.
If the book were made into a film, who would play the part of the librarian?
My partner has asked me to get Scarlett Johansson, for slightly suspect reasons! Please excuse him.
How can people who are not avid readers identify with this book?
The book is short and sharp. You can read it in one sitting: it's impossible to get bored!
Female First Lucy Walton