Translation Rights TQE / The Club of the Starred

Francho, a vocational mailman and a helplessly single man due to his physical appearance, leads a life of routine, neatness and order. He eats breakfast and lunch with Hortensia every day at his best friend’s coffee shop. On weekends, his friend brings him to an astronomy club which gathers a strange group of solitary people that offer each other some shelter. All of them find it strange that Francho never talks about women or relationships, but they are not aware that Francho enjoys a solitary pleasure that has been with him since his mother owned a haberdasher’s shop. He has a fetish for lingerie and likes to secretly dress up in it. One night, an incident in a prison cell – where he finds himself among pimps and prostitutes – sets Francho on a mission that will teach him things he did not know about himself. In the meantime, his best friend, the owner of the coffee shop, divorced long ago, is attracted to Hortensia and tries his best to become more than just a confidant to her.

«The writer from Zaragoza becomes submerged in the comical and furious kingdom that has been ruled by the likes of Kennedy O’Tool or Tibor Fisher… The novel is acid and funny, but also moving. »  Pablo Martínez Zarracina, El Correo

«Having someone take you for somebody else is the perfect opportunity to live an adventure. That – totally by chance – an adorable woman enters the orbit of a solitary man is truly a strike of good luck… The novel by Berges surprises and entertains, rips and hurts, speaks of liberation and secrets, conquests and good-byes, of migratory birds and chrysalides. It makes the incredible seem possible and the impossible painfully real. »  Luis Borrás, Diario del Alto Aragón

«A literary debut written with surprisingly lively and decisive prose. Joaquín Berges has a Cervantesque and compassionate view of mankind and reveals himself as a wonderful storyteller. »  Roberto Miranda, El Periódico de Aragón

«Somewhere between David Lodge and Almodóvar. »   Heraldo de Aragón

«Upon reading the opening paragraphs of this work, the reader immediately realizes that Joaquín Berges is a great writer, with clear ideas, an impressive structural capability, a wonderful freshness, and a story to tell. I do not think I can further flatter this writer, and yet he undoubtedly deserves the praise. From the very beginning, his prose pulls the reader in with a tug… A deliciously well-written novel with a good structure and perfect use of language. »    Cervantes Book Store (Alcalá)

Joaquín Berges was born in Zaragoza in 1965. He has a degree in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of Zaragoza. He started his career as a writer with El club de los estrellados (The Club of the Starred), a surprising first novel whose agility and freshness revealed a wonderful storyteller. It was awarded the prize for the Best Debut Novel written in Spanish in 2009 at the Festival du Premier Roman in Chambéry (France). His following novels, Vive como puedas (Live as You Can, 2011) – selected by FNAC bookshops as “new talent” and a tribute to the genre of classic screwball comedies brought to the present day – and Un estado del malestar (A State of Unrest, 2012), demonstrated his talent for comic novels.