A Timid Light/ Una Llum Tímida
Both precious and tough at the same time, the same book has the power to make you feel incredibly good at times and, simultaneously, to break you and leave you in pieces at others.
Una Llum Tímida (A Timid Light), an original text written and performed as a theatrical play by Àfrica Alonso, based on real events, takes us to Spain during the last fifteen years of Franco's regime. It tells a love story between two teachers in a small village in Valencia called Manuel.
This 2024, the same author has published the work as a novel, a text written with the same delicacy and dedication as the theatrical play that preceded it. With extensive research behind it, Àfrica Alonso traveled to the small village of Manuel to immerse herself firsthand in the world of the two protagonists. There, she visited the little apartment where the teachers lived and even spoke with people who had the privilege of knowing them during their lifetime.
It is a harrowing story that, thanks to the author’s incredible writing, makes you turn the pages without realizing it, sometimes needing to stop to reflect, or even reread a paragraph, a sentence, or an entire page to process all the emotions these words manage to convey.
From the very beginning, a feeling of tenderness and love toward Isabel and Carmen takes hold of you. Àfrica Alonso has achieved a narrative that makes you feel everything that happens to them as if you were present in that small apartment in Manuel alongside them.
The good moments, the bad ones... You feel it all as if it directly affects you, creating a bond with the protagonists that leads you to reflect and think about how harsh and unfair life was for them. Despite the love they shared, due to the conditions and beliefs—partially imposed—of the time, they broke the societal norms of love; a love as tender and genuine as theirs. This ultimately shattered the happiness and mental integrity of two young women whose only wish was to be happy and love each other freely, without harming or bothering anyone.
The book brilliantly portrays the guilt that plagued the young women because of a love that, according to the closed-minded society of the time, was an abomination. With tears in your eyes and goosebumps, the book shows you, in a fictional yet very realistic way, how the feeling of guilt consumed them, how self-hatred and rejection of who they were became a constant presence in their lives, always clashing with the pure and sincere love they had for each other.
This internal struggle between the ideals you were raised with and what you have become is present throughout the book. The inability to embrace who you are due to incorrect, instilled values that go against everything you truly are—and deep down, you know that nothing you feel could be as wrong as they make you believe. Even though you’re aware that what you’re doing harms no one, a deeply ingrained part of you cannot let go of this sense of what is "right" and "normal." Is it perhaps out of fear of losing those we thought we loved once? Or maybe out of fear of losing who we thought we were? Whatever the case, what do we have to lose if we don’t have love?
