From Barcelona - Stories Behind the City, Second Edition (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781904881858)

Dubbed, "The Great Enchantress", by art critic Robert Hughes, Barcelona was seducing visitors long before the city's rise to a tourist hotspot following the Olympic Games in 1992. Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell all once called the Catalan capital "home," while countless others have been charmed by the city's character and splendor. From Barcelona is a collection of twelve short stories inspired by this cryptic Mediterranean metropolis, where haunted flats overlook leafy squares and feline temptresses lurk in smoky bars. Experience Antoni Gaud 's frustrations as he sought to revolutionize architecture, and discover the legend behind the man who squats with his belt around his ankles hidden in nativity scenes. These are just a few of the characters and tales you can expect, all set in a literary world of churches, dragons and roses. About the author: Jeremy Holland was born in California, but spent his formative years in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and England before returning to the US as a teenager. Dropping out of university he began a succession of jobs in technology. Working in a cubicle intensified his desire to seek out new adventures in exotic lands. In 2002, Jeremy returned to Barcelona with a blanket and a laptop and began the first edition of From Barcelona. He now lives in the Netherlands, with his wife, their young daughter and cat who flees from the sunlight. To read more about his life in the Dutch cheese country visit his blog www.hollandfromholland.com. For more about Barcelona, visit www.frombarcelona.com.