Love in Lowercase
Frascesc Miralles, 2010 (U.S., 2016)
Penguin Publishing
249 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780143128212
Summary
A romantic comedy for language lovers and fans of The Rosie Project, about a brainy bachelor and the cat that opens his eyes to life’s little pleasures.
When Samuel, a lonely linguistics lecturer, wakes up on New Year’s Day, he is convinced that the year ahead will bring nothing more than passive verbs and un-italicized moments—until an unexpected visitor slips into his Barcelona apartment and refuses to leave.
The appearance of Mishima, a stray, brindle-furred cat, becomes the catalyst that leads Samuel from the comforts of his favorite books, foreign films, and classical music to places he’s never been (next door) and to people he might never have met (a neighbor with whom he’s never exchanged a word).
Even better, the Catalan cat leads him back to the mysterious Gabriela, whom he thought he’d lost long before, and shows him, in this international bestseller for fans of The Rosie Project, The Solitude of Prime Numbers, and The Guest Cat, that sometimes love is hiding in the smallest characters. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 27, 1968
• Where—Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
• Education—Autonomous University of Barcelona (no degree); B.A., University of
Barcelona
• Awards—Gran Angular Prize (YA novel); Torrevieja Prize
• Currently—lives in Barcelona
Francesc Miralles Contijoch is a Spanish writer, essayist, translator, and musician. He was born in Barcelona as the son of a dressmaker and an erudite office worker. After spending eight years in a religious school in la Ribera, he attended high school at the now-defunct academy Almi and Ies Montserrat.
Education
Despite his bad grades, he was accepted into the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) to study journalism, which he quit after four months. That the same year, he started to work as a waiter at Puces del Barri Gotic, a bar in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, where he learned to play the piano.
In the following year, Miralles returned to the UAB, this time to study English literature, which he combined with precarious language-teacher jobs. After five years of being a sloth, he stalled in his third year...and quit again.
A lover of travel, Miralles decided to leave everything behind to travel the world. A bunch of chance encounters led him to live in Croatia and Slovenia during the armed conflicts.
Upon returning to Barcelona, Miralles resumed his academic life as a student—this time of German literature—at the Universidad de Barcelona. Before finishing his postgraduate studies, he began work in the publishing business, initially as a translator of English and German spirituality and alternative-therapy books. Later he became an editor overseeing several collections of self-help books, even writing under a pseudonym.
Writing
Miralles eventually left publishing and promised himself he would never work for another company again. Instead, he decided to try his hand at writing a youth novel, a decision that payed off—he has since published some 30 books, including young adult, fantasy, and adult novels, as well as nonfiction.
His first adult novel, Love in Lowercase, came out in 2010 and has been translated into 20 languages. A sequel, Wabi-Sabi, was published in 2014 (so far only in Europe). In 2016, six years after it was first released, Love in Lowercase was published in the U.S.
Miralles currently dedicates his time to both literature and journalism, combining monthly contributions to newspapers and magazines, such as El Pais Semanal and Mente Sana, with his work as a literary adviser to publishers and a literary agency.
Music
Aside from his writing life, Miralles is also a musician. In 2007, he released an album of songs, which he wrote and played, called Hotel Guru. The next year, in 2008, he and a group of musicians who work in publishing got together and formed the band, Nikosia. The group has released a number of albums. (Author bio adapted from the author's website and Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/19/2016.)
Book Reviews
This novel, the quirky tale of Barcelona linguistics professor Samuel, a mysterious cat named Mishima, and the bumpy road to love, is an international bestseller in its original Spanish edition....
Publishers Weekly
[A] cat sneaks into the Barcelona apartment of forlorn linguistics professor Samuel and eventually leads him to his neighbors and his long-lost Gabriela. You've gotta love a book that's compared to Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project and Paolo Giordano's The Solitude of Prime Numbers.
Library Journal
A lovely little book with nods to literature, philosophy and music that encourages us to wake up to our lives and to the people in them, and to let small coincidences lead us to love.
BookPage
[G]enuinely charming if a little predictable...[with] an easy protagonist to root for. The simplicity of Miralles' writing is also key; his short chapters are like brief, linked thoughts that highlight the magic in the ordinar.... A satisfyingly quaint romance.
Kirkus Reviews
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