The Dinner Guest (El comensal)

In 1977, three terrorists broke into Gabriela Ybarra’s grandfather’s home and pointed a gun at him in the shower. This was the last time his family saw him alive, & his kidnapping played out in the press, culminating in his murder. Ybarra first heard the story when she was eight, but it was only after her mother’s death, years later, that she felt the need to go deeper & discover more about her family’s past. The Dinner Guest is a novel inspired by what she found.

The Dinner Guest is a novel with the feel of documentary nonfiction. It connects two life-changing events—the very public death of Ybarra’s grandfather, & the more private pain as her mother dies from cancer & Gabriela cares for her. Devastating & luminous, the book is an investigation, marking the arrival of a talented new voice in international fiction.

"... succinct & inventive ... Ybarra’s research is evident ... Ybarra brings us through the process with the objectivity & forensic eye of a true crime writer, allowing glimpses of poignancy through her connection to her subject ... Ybarra expertly blends techniques of fiction & non-fiction ... The tone of her debut has the conversational appeal of a really well-written blog; it makes the reader think about the subjects and connect with their plight ... the writing sparkles throughout ... Although short on word count, by the end of The Dinner Guest, Ybarra has done herself & her family proud in a story that is full of light & shade." — Sarah Gilmartin, The Irish Times

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Gabriela Ybarra was born in Bilbao, Spain, in 1983. She currently lives in Madrid, where she writes & works in social media analysis. The Dinner Guest is her first novel & was published to critical acclaim in Spain, where it won the Euskadi Literature Prize 2016. Her work has appeared in publications such as El País, ABC & Revista Eñe.