TITLE IT RIGHT — HOW TO GRAB READERS

Picking the right title can make all the difference when your book goes on sale. But how do you find it? The possibilities are endless, as David Baird discovered.

What do these phrases have in common?

Sunstruck, Fiesta fever, Follow that mule!, Whitewash and olives, The vintage years, Is there a Spaniard in the pueblo?, Everything under the sun, The blossoms of spring, The sunshine life, The donkey that roared…

Answer: they are all suggested titles for a new book.

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AN ESCAPIST FINDS A NIGHTMARE IN SPAIN!

WE’RE ALL ESCAPISTS AT HEART, dreaming of another life in another place without the nagging worries that go with our daily routine.
However, if you take the big step and launch yourself into a new life, a “simple life” in a totally different environment, it can turn out rather more complicated than you expected.
In the case of one not-so-innocent Britisher, his escapist dream turn turns into a dramatic adventure with sinister surprises lying in wait.
Don’t Miss The Fiesta!, a thriller set in a Spanish village, takes the lid off the surprises that could await a stranger in an outwardly tranquil Andalusian pueblo.

SPAIN’S HISTORIC MEMORY — What it’s all about

DECADES after Spain tore itself apart in a civil war the pain lingers on. The Ley de la Memoria Histórica, a recently enacted law, aims to heal some of the old wounds but has only succeeded in exacerbating the fierce debate. 

Passions are still fierce, not just about the war itself but about the repression that followed during the long years of dictatorship. The country has yet to come to terms with events that occurred more than 50 years ago, not least those of a desperate guerrilla conflict which raged in the 1940s.

Thus, Between Two Fires — Guerrilla war in the Spanish sierras could not be more timely. This important  book throws fresh light on a struggle which — thanks to strict censorship — went largely unreported both in Spain or in the rest of the world.

GUERRILLA WAR CENSORED BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

“This superbly written book could not be  more timely.”

So says Paul Preston, one of the most respected authors concentrating on recent Spanish history.

He is referring to Between Two Fires — Guerrilla war in the Spanish sierras, a poignant account of how a Spanish village was trapped in a brutal conflict — one which went virtually unreported due to strict censorship.

A new edition of this in-depth investigation written by longtime resident of Spain David Baird is just out. Praise has come from across the world.

Libro presentado en Frigiliana

El periodista, historiador y escritor británico David Baird, ha presentado su libro Sunny Side Up, The 21st century hits a Spanish village (El siglo 21 llega a un pueblo español) en Frigiliana (Málaga). Esta obra se ha editado en inglés y alemán.

En este libro el autor relata la evolución de un pueblo axárquico, que no nombra, en los últimos 40 años. Intercala el tono humorístico y el serio para contarnos una serie de anécdotas que pueden ir desde un mendigo ciego que circulaba en moto, hasta un fantasma que aterrorizaba al pueblo.

Compelling Adventure in a Spanish Village (review)

With Don’t Miss the Fiesta!  journalist and author David Baird (born in Shropshire, England) does a remarkable job both of entertaining and enlightening his readers, writes Miguel Booth, Hispanist, writer and polemicist.

At first glance this engaging book is just a compelling tale of mystery and adventure: Scully, a degenerate British fraudster takes refuge in a remote Andalusian mountain village, bringing with him his baggage of regrets and sordid secrets. But he’s unaware of the mysteries the seemingly innocent village of Benamargo harbors. A hint: The name itself denotes bitterness.

On another level the book is a vibrant fictionalized account of the secret lives of so many real-life Spanish villages which—at the time the story is set, in the 1980s—were still largely trapped between the hammer of the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, and the anvil of cruel medieval religious “obligations”.