One of the most important literary works of post-Civil War Spain, <i>Nada</i> is the semiautobiographical story of an orphaned young woman who leaves her small town to attend university in war-ravaged Barcelona. Edith Grossman&#8217;s vital new translation captures Carmen Laforet&#8217;s feverish energy, powerful imagery, and subtle humor. <i>Nada</i>, which includes an illuminating Introduction by Mario Vargas Llosa, is one of the great novels of twentieth-century Europe.<br><br>&#8220;Laforet vividly conveys the strangeness of Barcelona in the 1940s, a city that has survived civil war only to find itself muted by Franco&#8217;s dictatorship&#8230;The spirit of sly resistance that Laforet&#8217;s novel expresses, its heroine&#8217;s determination to escape provincial poverty and to immerse herself in &#8216;lights, noises, the entire tide of life,&#8217; has lost none of its power of persuasion.&#8221; &#8212; <i>The New York Times Book Review<br></i><br>&#8220;That this complex, mature and wise novel was written by someone in her early 20s is extraordinary&#8230;.But after six decades, this first novel has lost none of its power and originality, and we are fortunate to have it in this fine translation.&#8221;-- <i>The Washington Post, chosen as a Washington Post Best Book of the Year<br><br></i>&#8220;Nada does indeeed recall Sartre and Camus, but it is fresher and more vibrant than either, and with its call to intuition and feelings rather than intellect, it cuts deeper&#8230;.[A] mesmerizing new translation&#8230;.a beautiful evocation of the tidal wave of late adolescent feeling&#8230;.[Laforet] wrote Nada when she was only 23, yet the book resonates with frightening maturity, sadness and depth&#8230;a work of genius.&#8221; &#8212; <i>Los Angeles Times<br><br></i>&#8220;A brilliantly subtle book whose power lies in what goes unsaid&#8230;&#8221;Nada&#8221; is a skillfully written, multifaceted novel, and its eerie relevance to today&#8217;s political climate and social attitudes is difficult to ignore.&#8221; -- <i>The San Francisco Chronicle</i><br><br>&#8220;Laforet&#8217;s moody and sepulchral debut novel&#8230;has been given new life by acclaimed translator Grossman&#8230;.Andrea&#8217;s narration is gorgeously expressive, rippling with emotion and meaning&#8230;fans of European lit will welcome this Spanish Gothic to the States with open arms and a half-exasperated, &#8220;What took you so long?&#8221;&#8211;<i>Publisher&#8217;s Weekly (starred review) <br><br></i>&#8220;This Modern Library edition should be a keeper.&#8221; &#8212; <i>Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<br><br></i>&#8220;Carmen Laforet finds new life with this beautiful translation&#8230;dazzling in its approach&#8230;Laforet&#8217;s talent in addressing complex familial and social issues us nothing short of amazing&#8230;her wiser-than-thou nature and clever handling of bitter dialogue [are] the mark of a truly gifted writer&#8230;..a timeless work of art.&#8221; -- <i>The Fredericksburg Free Lance Star</i> <br><br>&#8220;Nada is neither moralist, nor prolix, unlike most other Spanish literature of the time and before. This is a modern voice, philosophically and stylistically, talking to us in freedom from the darkest hours of the victory of fascism&#8230;.remarkably sophisticated.&#8221; -- <i>The Independent</i><br><br>&#8220;[A] remarkable achievement&#8230;Nada&#8217;s work is sui generis, a gothic horror story which deserves the widest possible readership.&#8221; &#8212; <i>The Sunday Herald<br><br></i>&#8220;Edith Grossman&#8217;s translation makes the rich, dense descriptions....sound perfectly natural in English; not a beat is missed, not an adjective misplaced. Let us hope that her fine, readable version will enable <i>Nada </i>to achieve, in the English-reading world, the perennial popularity of a great twentieth-century novel.&#8221; -- <i>TLS<br></i>