In the Night of Time

Spain's distinguished Muñoz Molina (creative writing in Spanish, New York Univ.; A Manuscript of Ashes), most recently the winner of the Prince of Asturias Prize for literature, here tells the story of a successful Spanish architect named Ignacio Abel who has worked his way up from humble origins to supervise the construction of Madrid's University City during the Second Republic on the eve of the Spanish Civil War. A father of two, married to the conventional Adela (who, unlike her friend, the wife of poet Juan Ramón Jiménez, no longer shares in the creative process of her husband's work), Ignacio meets the alluring and intelligent American Judith Biely. Adela finds out about the affair and attempts suicide, whereupon Judith returns to the United States. Hoping to join her, Ignacio accepts a commission at a small private college in New York. However, Judith is ardently committed to the Second Republic and decides to return to Ignacio's homeland.