2019

Matilde Bares – Premio Relatos de Muller

Tareixa walks toward what could be a new romantic relationship, and nothing makes her grandmother Lola happier than seeing her climb out of the pit where she had been stuck for so long. As she watches her leave, Lola remembers the many times Tareixa told her she should write the story of her life so that nothing would be lost.

Lola was born in Ordes in 1918, the year of the pandemic, as if it were a premonition of the destiny that awaited her. Hardships began when, at eight years old, she was sent to live with her aunt to safeguard an inheritance that had cost her much sweat and tears. Then, with the Spanish Civil War, came the toughest times, but she was always a fighter and knew how to make the most of the few opportunities life offered her—among them, the chance to be an independent woman, which is why Tareixa admires her so much.

Throughout her story, Lola frequently references the life of her granddaughter, Tareixa, who, like her grandmother, looks back and recalls her early years in Merelle, her student life in Santiago, and, above all, the loves and heartbreaks that brought her to the brink of misfortune. Yet there were always the hands that never let her fall—the Madriña and the lighthouse—the nest she returned to in order to try to rebuild her identity.