Life lasts only a few minutes, but Fraile's narrative "nose" will endure for ever -- Andres Neuman A master of black comedy... He has a light touch and a razor wit as well as a highly original way of looking at the world -- Eileen Battersby Irish Times So little is said and so much is conveyed -- Ali Smith Precise, compact and concise, impactive through subtle suggestion... often gently tender and melancholic, infused with a wry and touching humour Herald Masterfully muted, their insights impactful but delayed... Fraile's stories, tightly controlled and peopled with scrupulously-rendered characters, offer a fine deviation from the giddy desperation of much contemporary literature. English readers are lucky to finally have the opportunity to read Fraile's crystalline work Iowa Review They have the exactness of verse - and the translator deserves credit for rendering the stories so beautifully in English BookTrust

Medardo Fraile b.1925 grew up in Madrid, and lived through the siege of the city during the Spanish Civil War. He first achieved literary recognition for his work in experimental theatre, becoming part of a group including Alfonso Sastre and Alfonso Paso, and writing the acclaimed play El Hermano. During the Fifties his focus moved to short-story writing, and he left Franco's Spain to eventually settle in Scotland, as a Professor at the University of Strathclyde. His stories won him many prizes, including the Critica, Sesamo and Estafeta Literaria prizes as well as the Hucha de Oro. He died in 2013.