Bernardo Atxaga - The Lone Woman

Before she got to the other end of the bridge, she stopped and looked up at the sky. It wasn’t entirely overcast. Despite the drizzle, she could just see the moon between two clouds.

The translator would like to thank Bernardo Atxaga, Annella McDermott, Antonio Martín and Ben Sherriff for all their help and advice .

Poems, songs and prose extracts quoted in the novel

“Beat at the bars” from “Bars” by Carl Sandburg

“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself” from “Self-pity” by D. H. Lawrence

“No, people never like those who keep their own faith” from La mauvaise réputation by Georges Brassens

“I like my women” from Me gustan las mujeres by José de Espronceda

“The mind of an ex-prisoner” from El ánimo de quien ha estado preso by Joseba Sarrionandia

“If you want to write to me” from a popular Spanish song

“Dalle più alte stelle” by Michelangelo

“Solomon Grundy” a popular children’s rhyme

“When I was a child in Orio” from Quousque tandem by Jorge Oteiza

“As the sun set” from Scarlet and Black by Stendhal

“Though far apart” from “The two hearts”, a traditional Chinese poem

“Last night I dreamt” from a song by The Smiths

“The grass so little has to do” by Emily Dickinson

“O Venus, evening star” by Sappho

“Goodnight Irene” popular song from the United States

“Ixil ixilik dago” popular Basque song

“Little Lamb, who made thee?” from “The Lamb” by William Blake

“Aboard a train of oblivion” from “Run Run se fue p’al Norte” by Violeta Parra

“The whole of it came not at once” by Emily Dickinson

“While her daughter was ironing” from Diario di cinema e di vita by Cesare Zavattini

“Fight, my soul, for the hours and the moments” from “Not yet, my soul” by Robert Louis Stevenson

“I always eat peas with honey” an anonymous rhyme