Madrid is a capital city of contradictions, at once marked by its turbulent history and constant changes, political turmoil and economic upheaval. It also has a steady, unchanging calmness and presence, a sense of its own bearing that is reflecting in the literature that was inspired by its sun-drenched streets and shady, restful parks.  Many writers, Spanish or otherwise, have been captivated by this ever changing place.

Madrid many squares are monuments to its literary heroes. Across from the Prado, Spain’s largest art museum, is Barrio de Las Letras, the literary district. There is a museum dedicated to the poet Calderron, but this area is no dusty museum. It is a lively and vibrant area, full of people of all ages living their lives on the streets that have inspired some of the finest novels of the last two centuries. 

Below is our round-up of some of the best “Madrid” novels, some by native authors, and others by authors who came as foreigners and left inspired. Hopefully you find your next great read, and maybe even your next literary trip.

Who are your favourite Spanish authors? Comment below…

"Fortunata and Jacinta" by Benito Pérez Galdós (1889)

Who:  Born in the Canary Islands, Galdós came to Madrid as a young man to study law. He would write over 75 novels and is considered one of Spain’s prominent writers. His novels are usually classified under “literary realism”, dealing with social topics in a frank way that often shocked readers at the time. 

Plot: This weighty book, nearly as long as War and Peace, revolves around the lives of four characters. Galdós was inspired by the women whom he saw in the poor tenement districts of Madrid. The titular women, Fortunata and Jacinta, who are both involved with the same man, Juanito. The story follows their intersecting lives and disparate fates.  It follows closely how the different social classes the two women are born into shapes their lives, and their ability to control their destinies. 

"The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Shadow of Wind is one of the best-selling novels of this century, selling over a million copies in the UK alone. It actually makes up part of a series, which includes the prequel, The Angel’s Game, and the third novel, The Prisoner of Heaven.

While most of the book takes place in Barcelona, it also has key scenes and plot points in Madrid. And for those who cannot stomach starting the aformentioned Spanish War and Peace, this novel is still sizeable but still able to fit in your hand luggage for a weekend away. 

Plot: The main plot involves the protagonist, Daniel, who is taken to a magical depository of forgotten books, where he selects a novel. He later discovers the author mysteriously went missing soon after its publication. Upon realising he is in possession of the only copy in existence, he sets out on a perilous journey to find out what happened to its vanished author. From this search, another story unfolds, and you are taken on a labyrinthine literary journey. It is a true gothic novel, with tinges of magical realism and the supernatural.

"The Time of the Hero" by Mario Vargas Llosa

Who: One of the Spanish language’s most famed authors has a square in Madrid dedicated to his memory. Winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 2010, Llosa’s work revolves around themes of power, resistance and the perils of Nationalism. Much of his writing has been strongly influenced by his Peruvian nationality. 

Plot: Crossing multiple changing perspectives and timelines, it details the horrors and disillusionment in the lives of Military Cadets. It is based on the writer’s own experience of serving in a Military Academy as a teenager. It follows what happens after a lowly cadet is ordered to steal an examination paper by the leader of his group. The subsequent fall-out is a brutal and strikingly accurate portrayal of corruption and abuse of power was so jarring to some readers that the Academy depicted in the novel burn a thousand copies. 

"The Family of Pascual Duarte" by Camilo José Cela

Who: Cela was born in 1916 to a middle-class Galician family. They moved to Madrid when Cela was a teenager. A spell in a sanatorium for tuberculosis afforded him the opportunity to read heavily and he began writing his first novel during this period.  “The Family”, his first novel, was published in 1942. His work would go on to be hugely influential in shaping post-WW2 Spanish literature, and he would win the Nobel Prize in 1988.

Plot: A daring and experimental first novel, the story moves across rural Spain and Madrid, the timeline spanning probably the most turbulent time in Spain’s history. The protagonist recalls his life up to its current point, as he sits in prison awaiting execution. Born into difficult circumstances, he lives without morality, murdering several people seemingly without remorse. The novel, with its several shocking depictions of violence, has drawn comparisons to Albert Camus' The Stranger, and caused an uproar when it was published, causing the first two editions to be banned. 

"Madrid, 1937" by Pablo Neruda

Who: Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet and political activist who wrote extensively about love and the cultural and social landscape of Latin America. He supported his literary career with a job in the Foreign Ministry. 

Neruda had moved to Madrid shortly before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, and his poetry became markedly more political from this point onwards. This collection of poems captures the tension and atmosphere of Madrid during the War, blending together his personal reflection and a sharpened political eye. His dear friend, the poet Gabriel Garcia Lorca, was executed in 1936. This and the other horrors he witnessed left him deeply bruised and unable to witness events any longer with impartiality, eventually costing him his diplomatic posting. 

While his political stance has invited detractors, and maybe even his death, his style is implacable and impossibly refined. His clear and definitely prose are suffused with honesty, humour and deep emotion.

"In the Night of Time" by Antonio Muñoz Molina

Plot: Despite being written so recently (2009), this novel is a richly detailed picture that set in Madrid, set right on the edge of civil war. This is where the protagonist, who struggled through modest circumstances to become a respected businessman,  finds himself abandoning his family and pursuing a doomed relationship with an American woman. The novel is the precise re-telling of their love affair, that spirals them into oblivion as the country crumbles around them. 

"South from Grenada" by Gerald Brenan

Who: Gerald Brenan was an English-born author and member of the Bloomsbury Group. Following his military service, he decamped to Spain and much of the rest of his life there. 

While a great deal of lauded Spanish language literature tends to focus around the period leading up to and during the Civil War, this amusing and vibrant collection is set at a slightly different period of Spain’s history, the 1920s. Set mainly in Adalusia and Southern Spain, where over fourteen years the author lived in a remote village. He lovingly depicts the landscape, the culture, customs and social mores, as well as vibrant descriptions of city life from brief sojourns to Madrid. 

 "The Infatuations" by Javier Marías

Who: Marías is one of Spain’s preeminent authors until his untimely death in 2022. His work has been published in 42 languages.  It would seem he was always destined to be an author, writing his first story, The Life and Death of Marcelino Iturriaga, when he was just 14 years old, and began writing his first novel at 17 years old.  He also worked extensively as a translator and teacher of translation at Oxford University. This work so impermeated his writing that all his protagonists since 1986 have even been translators or interpreters.

Plot: A metaphysical love story set in modern-day Madrid, exploring obsession, the nature of reality and the complexity of a city’s social structure. The protagonist, a young woman, visits a cafe every day where she observes a happily married couple. Following a shocking and violent event, she insinuates herself into lives and becomes involved in a toxic triangle of thwarted love. 

 "Winter in Madrid" by C.J. Sansom

This best-selling novel from 2006 captures Madrid at another pivotal time in its history - right after the civil war and in the first months of the second world war, when the country lay in ruins. The protagonist is a British spy, Harry Brett, who is sent to Madrid to investigate the shady dealing of an old friend. Despite being written so recently, Sansom is channeling literary greats of the novel’s era such as Graham Greene and Ernest Hemingway. He deftly combines a well-paced plot with rich background and haunting imagery, encapsulating a time in history that was especially dark.

Any of these novels will deepen your understanding and knowledge of Madrid, Spain and Spanish literature. All of them are fine novels that bring vivid description and imagery to a capital and country scarred yet resilient in the face of war, a rich literary heritage replete with Nobel Prize winners who have not shied away from writing about Spain’s many layers, with a critical yet loving eye. So, before your next trip to Spain, whether you will be walking the streets of Madrid or simply enjoying one its many flawless beaches, choose one of these books as your companion piece - you won’t be disappointed.