The first memory

This is a strange memory, the memory of a girl brought by her grandmother to her house on the island of Mallorca, due to the death of her mother, her nurse's illness, and her father's preoccupation. Then war surprised her during a holiday when she was fourteen. She records in her memory everything she sees accurately, from trees, rocks, sea, air, lights, colors, events, and echoes of the war both distant and near at the same time, and also cowardice, betrayal, and treachery; she records feelings of hatred, revenge, fear, and love, her first love free of lust because of the absence of instinct. When she becomes a woman, and still plays with dolls, her doll is Gurogo the black, the chimney cleaner she brought from afar, from one of Andersen's stories. Times blend together, and the present moment calls up the recent and distant past, the latter possibly longer than the first because it took its place in memory and settled. Therefore, there are many brackets, doubles, and abundant details without feeling bored. Because all of this is written in a refined language, with the style of a first-class writer, she is: Anna Maria Matute. The novel "First Memory" won the Nadal Prize in 1959, which is one of the most prestigious and famous literary awards in Spain.