The book written by Naomi López Trujillo and Estefanía S. Vasconcellos tells the stories, in the form of conversations, of a number of young Spaniards who had to go abroad to seek a better future
‘Volveremos’ is a special book. A book that tells the story of a generation that, due to the economic crisis, has had to emigrate. The narratives of people who have left behind family and friends in search of a job, a chance to work at that for which they had studied. And it does so in a unique way. It links the stories of each character and transforms them into conversations. The authors are two young journalists, Noemí López Trujillo and Estefanía S. Vasconcellos.
They were in Manchester when the publisher contacted them to propose this project. The title and the format were set out, all that was needed were the protagonists. Estefanía says “we posted a message in social media outlets, saying that we were looking for people who had had to emigrate, and we soon began to receive messages”. This experience has not only helped them professionally but, as Noemi says, it has also helped at a personal level. “It has allowed me to do away with my prejudices and pre-established ideas. I realized how badly we sometimes behave to immigrants“, she confesses.
Regarding the stories that make up the book, both agree that the most impressive is the one about Ernesto Filardi, but Naomi says that Cynthia‘s story moved her more deeply. Different cases but equally striking. Filardi is a man with a PhD in Philology, without a job, married and with twins who had to head for Canada, surprisingly the same country to which his mother had had to go in the 1960s. On the other hand, Cynthia’s situation was more striking, more agonising. “Her desire is to leave, to abandon Spain, but she can never get to do it,” explains Naomi. “The problems she has had throughout her life have prevented her from taking this step”, she says. “This is what the book is about, it not only tells you how difficult being an immigrant is, it also explains how complicated it can be to take the step, leave everything behind without the certainty that things will work out”, she concludes.
