Above the Rain

Written by Víctor del Árbol

Narrated by Derek Shetterly

In the latest novel from a master of European crime fiction, past, present, and future intertwine on a breathtaking journey from Tangier in 1955 to Malmö in 2014.

Miguel and Helena meet at a nursing home in Tarifa, at an age when they believe they have lived it all already. Miguel is afraid of flying. Helena is afraid of the ocean. Both have adult children and feel they are no longer needed. The dramatic suicide of one of the other residents opens their eyes. They don't want to spend their last days remembering and longing for supposedly better times. Together they decide to undertake the journey of their lives and confront the darkness in their pasts.

Meanwhile, in the distant Swedish city of Malmö, the young Yasmina, a child of Moroccan immigrants who dreams of being a singer, lives trapped between the care of her authoritarian grandfather Abdul and the contempt of her mother, who is ashamed of Yasmina because she works for a Swede with a murky reputation. And has a secret love affair with the Deputy Commissioner of the Swedish police, an older, influential man.

As Yasmina is drawn deeper into Malmö’s criminal underworld and Miguel and Helena approach the end of their feverish road trip, Víctor del Árbol masterfully reconstructs the history of violence that links their seemingly disparate lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: May 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094416403

Víctor del Árbol

Víctor del Árbol was born in Barcelona in 1968 and was an officer of the Catalan police force from 1992 to 2012. As the recipient of the Nadal Prize, the Tiflos Prize, and as the first Spanish author to win the Prix du Polar Européen, he has distinguished himself as a notable voice in Spanish literature.

Reviews for Above the Rain

[Cilica · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a well written and surprisingly decent translation. The story is full of generational abuse which made me sad at parts. Good read. Narration is good.

[bev1chrystal · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My Dad enjoyed the book. Hope I find another book for him to enjoy..

[Karen Chandler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This storyline is a well written book with believable characters.

[kwakyewaa owusu-nyantakyi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a well written book! Such fully developed and nuanced characters! Loved it

[jay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful epic of a book which includes intertwining lines and realistic endings. This authors not afraid to kill off his heroes

[Ma At · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Enthralling, complex, and completely absorbing. It took a while to complete because it was so thought provoking. So many connections had to made and so many plot lines had to be followed. I regret the journey is complete. It slowly became a part of my day, as though listening to an elder tell a family tale. Fabulous !

[Alta Coetzee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

what a brilliant story. All the characters came together in a amazing intricate plot. I could not stop listening.

[Anna Wuollet · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, just wow. Highly recommend, beautifully written and had me crying by the end. Definitely will be checking out more of this author

[wfc · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Incredible writing, captivating from the first to the last page! So articulate and prosaic.

[Jeanne Nichol · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Difficult story to keep characters straight. I’m glad I didn’t give up. Excellent story. Felt like a part of its world. Recommend b

[Dian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is mind blowing the things people do is unbearable but so real with so much characters you really have to listen carefully because each character brings out different emotions but they all comes together the most important thing is this book need to come with a warning because everything under the sun is done in this book I am happy it ended it's just that troubling

[Barry Weber · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's about Life, living and death. One best books I've ever read.

[Val Menzies · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The book is beautifully written. Each character comes alive for the reader ,leaving the reader with admiration and disgust for the characters, all of whom are richly explored. The women , although each are the victim of a male character,displays her inner strength before their story ends. It is a story of hardship, pain and cruelty where Karma plagues each protagonist in the end.

[Christopher Hegan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful, elegiac and made more so by the episodes of cruelty and violence which serves to heighten the interior heights the richly developed characters ascend to. The settings - colonial Tangiers, post-war Franco Spain and modern times paint a detailed picture which leads us to a deeper understanding of modern Spain.

[ikennachinedu2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Victor has a way of writing, his stories grip and squeeze both the imaginations and heart. They take you along a path that make you think. This is a second of his I have listened to. A Million Drops was my first; beautiful story too. If you liked this book you may also like The Price of Paradise and The Gardener of Baghdad.

[Karen Malmberg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well written and very depressing. Rather sorry I read it.

[Una Ambros · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book I've stopped listening to because of the narration. The accents the narrator uses in the dialogues are not accurate, they sound childish and really grate on my nerves. I'll read this myself in book format.

[MR · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

OMG- the narrator's English accent (meant to be RP)?) was too funny to not distract from the story. I couldn't even get through the intro.