Rafael Andarias is a doctor who cultivates his passion for writing, art and the novel in his spare time. His medical perspective means that he must have the so-called clinical eye, which makes him make very important decisions in a matter of seconds and these peculiarities are continuously manifested in his personal trajectory.
Rafael distinguishes between history and novel, and does well because they do not have the same objective. In 1992 on the occasion of the V Centenary of the discovery of America, I wrote a novel about the trip from Columbus to America, about 600 pages long, and I submitted it to a literary contest organized in Murcia where it was a finalist, after the first prize and second prize. The organization invited me to the awards dinner with my wife and a member of the jury carried my copy under his arm in a simulation of pretending decisions while we were having dinner.
In this simulation, over loudspeakers they were saying the copies that they were selecting, first ten, then five, then three and at the end the prize and second prize. When they read the last three, they named my novel; then no longer.
After dinner I approached the member of the jury who had carried my work under his arm and asked him what his opinion was about my work. His reply was: "the historian is more noticeable than the novelist." It was on the one hand a compliment but on the other a disappointment.
On another occasion I asked Jesús Moncho about what had to be done to make a novel a success, he told me, in a novel you always have to put a conflict and find how to resolve that conflict. The truth is that I do not have the creativity that one must have to write a novel, which I do admire in Rafael Andarias, who through Living Chess or the film story-script and even in his activity as a short film director, shows an ideal chore for a novel.
This comes from the fact that Rafael has known with the historical data, which is necessary, to make a credible fiction supported by the events that occurred at the end of the civil war in Alicante, with espionage and love story situations that he has as center, which was called the Reina Victoria hotel but that, with the advent of the Republic, the monarchical word was a contested term and not politically correct, which is said now and fell from the name.
The book was presented at the Book Fair at five in the afternoon. They said that they thanked the attendees for having given up the siesta but both the historian Juan Martínez Leal and Rafael Andarias did not remember the Lorca poem of 'At five in the afternoon' where the capture and death of Ignacio Sánchez Mejías is told, and that bullfighters place the target of their hobby at this time. The presentation took place in the Seneca square between the murals of Emilio Varela Isabel and Gastón Castelló Bravo.
Rafael told us that it is a very Alicante novel in which the 'Alicante leave' can be appreciated as well as that with the novel a route could be formalized through the various scenarios of the city that were protagonists in the last five days of the civil war .
The author has sought to satisfy his wishes for a novel to make him reflect and at the same time increase his culture and knowledge, and I believe that these two ideas are evident in his work. In the reflection that he launches and that was emphasized by the presenter Juan Martínez Leal, that of we will not do it again !. We Spaniards are divided and what happened has not yet been overcome and that as proposed by the academic and the Prince of Asturias Award, Antonio Muñoz Molina, in 2009, we need a great State Pact on our Civil War. Hopefully that improvement is achieved!
The novel is read with relish and interest in knowing what happens to the protagonist, the archaeologist María who, camouflaged as a Swiss journalist Karl, arrives in Alicante to visit the nest of spies in which the Hotel called Victoria in those years is located. Very good reading now that it is time for the heat to enjoy by the sea or near the mountains. I think it may be an object of interest to bring it to the screens in the world of cinema.
