La ciutat de les llums mortes is the new novel by David Uclés, winner of the Premi Nadal 2026, and confirms the literary imagination of one of the most unique narrators in recent Spanish literature, also the author of La península de las casas vacías.
The story begins in postwar Barcelona, when a young woman accidentally causes an extraordinary phenomenon that plunges the city into total darkness. For an entire day, all light disappears: both sunlight and artificial light. Only a faint glow of unknown origin and the flicker of fire remain.
At that moment, the different Barcelonas that have existed over time begin to overlap. Buildings that had disappeared reappear, others not yet existing emerge from the future, and the city becomes a territory where eras, perspectives, and memories that should never have coincided coexist.
The phenomenon also causes an unexpected parade of historical figures who come back to life and meet in improbable encounters. Picasso makes Simone Weil cry, Cortázar portrays Carmen Laforet, Gaudí varnishes the pedestrians, and George Orwell protects Montserrat Caballé, Núria Espert, and Jordi Savall from the projectiles of war. Meanwhile, a photographer capable of revealing in his images what has not yet happened tries to decipher the mystery of the darkness that has transformed the city.
In this ensemble novel, David Uclés builds a narrative where literature, painting, music, and theater become the deep conscience of society. An imaginative and ambitious story that turns Barcelona into a stage where past, present, and future dialogue in the same space.
La ciutat de les llums mortes is, at the same time, a tribute to the city and a celebration of imagination as a force capable of restoring light even in the darkest moments.
