El Diputado

The Deputy is an excellent example of the genre 'non-fiction story', as it was baptized by Truman Capote. Based on real events, it starts from an assumption: what would have happened in Spain if the government had postponed the general elections after the Atocha bombings, seeking a moment of democratic normality that did not exist at the time? The coexistence of three young politicians sharing the last legislature of the Popular Party with José María Aznar at the head of the nation, allows the author to construct a fictitious plot, always close to the reality of the political moment, in which personal vicissitudes are mixed with the analysis, reflections and dilemmas that all serious political action entails. Many of us have asked ourselves, what would have happened if these elections had been postponed? What would have happened if José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero had not become president? What would socialist politics have been like if Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba were still alive and the president of Spain at this moment? A totally topical story, a necessary uchronia in which readers will enjoy reading, sometimes delicious, sometimes hard and painful, full of surprising twists and turns. An alternative Spain, which could never have been, but Sergio Gómez-Alba's knowledge of politics and the experience he gained during his many years as a member of the Spanish Parliament make what is told in this story plausible. Intelligent, passionate, cultured and funny at times, it is a crude tale that shows the keys to Spanish political life, with its lights and shadows, its idealism and its frustrations. Love, pain, courage, fear, hope and disenchantment combine in the conversations and routines of the characters to weave a deeply human story based on the intense friendship of its three protagonists, who share the suffering and disappointment that inexorably accompany anyone who is dedicated to politics.