2023-12-03 09:41:35
More than 30,000 copies, 15 editions and more than 60 weeks among the best sellers. 'Panties in the sun'(The Bell) of Regina Rodriguez (Puigcerdà, 1983) has become one Catalan long-seller with a popularity that hasn't stopped growing since two years ago, when the novel broke into the editorial news. The Spanish edition has now gone on sale – translated as 'Las bragas al sol' (Suma de Letras) – and an audiobook in Catalan has been available since October. The book will soon arrive in Italy, Brazil and Portugal. The literary director of La Campana, Joan Riambau, explains to ACN that it is a phenomenon that “has not been seen for some time” and shows that Catalan literature “has a very wide market”, overflowing the usual circuits.
'Les calces al sol' tells the story of the Rita Raconsa young woman who is presented with the opportunity to go abroad after having a emotional low. At first he rejects it, until his grandmother – one of the novel's main characters – helps him cross the threshold to adventure. “It's important for people to know that the panties are grandma's, because that's when they're spreading the clothes with Cerdanya in the background, when he asks: And what will you do? Are you going to stay forever more watching my panties dry in the sun?” Rodríguez recalls.
From there, the protagonist will go to a family in Atlanta where she will act as an au-pair for three gifted children, experience all kinds of emotions, meet an irresistible dandy and end up discovering her vocation. According to the author it is a story based on his own experience with “real” scenes that began to take shape before the pandemic. “I didn't have any kind of filter and I wrote a story that I would have liked to read,” he emphasizes, “it's funny and crazy, but it also has literary muscle because I spent many hours and years working on this project.”
In fact, Rodríguez's story is, according to Riambau, the haystack of success. “The first symptoms that there could be something there were the reactions of the bookstores, little by little we saw that it had a very wide audience and only great stories can achieve that,” he says. The literary director highlights the main plot, but also the other small stories “where any reader can identify and fall in love”. “This makes it an exemplary book in its history, as it fulfills all the word-of-mouth theories,” he adds.
More than two years of growth
The first edition of Rodríguez's novel was published on September 2021 and currently exceeds the 30.000 exemplars. According to Riambau, it has been a “constant” process that has also allowed the book to remain at the top of the bestseller lists. Currently, it can be found in Catalan and, recently, also in Spanish. Last month it was published in audiobook format and – in the most international scope – it will reach countries such as Italy, Brazil and Portugal. Rodríguez hopes that, in the near future, it can also be translated into English.
“There are few books that have had this happen to them more than 60 weeks on the bestseller lists,” admits the literary director, “it's good for the novel, for Regina and also for Catalan literature, which has shown that it has a wider market than it can sometimes seem.” Although this, he also admits that “no one could imagine that the book would have this echo” and that it is a situation that “does not always happen”.
“Word of mouth is like a fire, when it ignites it can help it grow, but for it to be born certain factors must be present,” he says. One of them must be the story, “captivating” enough to pass from hand to hand. “In this case there were funny bits, others emotional… elements that have reached a very diverse readership,” he concludes.
Eager to tell more adventures
Rodríguez admits that he's been “in a cloud” for many weeks and that he's just getting to grips with it all. “It's all new to me, things don't stop happeningbut I also had time to enjoy them”, he celebrates. He also explains that already is working on a second book in which Rita Racons – her alter ego – will once again be the protagonist. “I can't get rid of myself,” she jokes.
She also admits that it has been very rewarding to write again and that she has done it with great pleasure, since she has found herself “100% with herself and her voice”. “If I write it's to have fun, and right now I notice that I really want to,” he adds.
#39Les #calces #sol39 #longseller #overflows #circuits #literature #Catalan #copies #editions