The Frost on His Shoulders

by Lorenzo Mediano, Lisa Dillman (Translator)

Fuses a traditional rural folk tale with the kind of political allegory popular around the time of the Spanish Civil War . . . A satisfying twist” ( The Wall Street Journal ).

In 1930s Spain, in an isolated valley of the Pyrenees, an aging teacher reconstructs a bloody and tragic event that seemed destined to remain forever hidden behind a wall of silence. He alone can penetrate appearances and grasp the iron laws determining the lives of all those who live in this place―this valley where nature is miserly and leaves little room for poetic contemplation or an excess of feelings. He alone remembers his protégé, Ramón, a shepherd, who, no more than a child, fell in love with Alba, the only daughter of the region’s most powerful and influential landowner.
The rich and powerful conspire to thwart the love between Ramón and Alba, and in doing so they incite a feud that will extend beyond all reason. Thus begins a vigorous, dramatic story of rebellion and a heroic quest for freedom that “offers both passionate, romantic derring-do and a vivid picture of class-driven mob hysteria” ( The Wall Street Journal ).

“A story that is sweeping in its narrative and evocative in its detail . . . The sort of romance to stir the coldest of hearts.” ― The Irish Times

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Spain, Literary Fiction, Literature

144 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

Lorenzo Mediano is a doctor, environmental writer, and the author of four novels. He was born in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1959. His great passion is for the mountains he calls home, the Pyrenees.

Reviews

[Katharine Ott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Frost on his Shoulders" - written by Lorenzo Mediano and published in 2012 by Europa Editions. What an unusual story this is! It's a highly-charged fictional account of a crisis in a small isolated town nestled near the Pyrenees, narrated by their non-native school teacher. The social structure in the town follows ancient tradition regarding ruling houses, "Only one person can rule the house, and his authority is tyrannical, absolute and unquestionable." An heir is chosen for each house and the remaining family members are left with very little. Ramon, a poor shepherd, falls in love with the only daughter of a powerful house and refuses to give up, eventually becoming a smuggler across the Pyrenees to earn money. "...his desire to marry Alba had become the cornerstone of his life, his raison d'etre." There are no casual, tolerant emotions in this story and the crisis when Ramon returns to claim his love is one of "dark family secrets and questions of revenge." I had to keep reminding myself that the events occur in the 1930s, everything felt very medieval to me. I enjoyed this vivid telling, just over 100 pages long, filled with high emotions and people who approach life in such a different manner (although my ancestors could have lived there!).

[lau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si no fuera un cuento largo, sería una novelita sentimental. Naturalismo truncado, drama telúrico, romántico clásico, narrado por un desmejorado profesor de un pueblo del Pirineo a principios de siglo. Muy oral para estar escrito, y puede que ese sea su acierto. A la espera de una versión de Hartzenbusch.

* * *

«Aquí, en las montañas, los sentimientos alcanzan una fuerza y una pureza incomprensibles para los que hemos nacido en una ciudad. Porque en las ciudades también nos enamoramos, o nos enemistamos, o ambicionamos; pero apenas han pasado cinco minutos vemos un escaparate, o tenemos que pensar en nuestro trabajo, o nos atrae el último suceso político. Por esta causa, nuestro amor y nuestro odio no son sino un pálido reflejo de lo que podrían ser».

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful story tells of the love of Ramon, a poor shepherd and Alba, the daughter of a rich landowner. If you are thinking this is a cliche and you have read it before you are very wrong. The intensity of their love for each other is mirrored darkly by the hatred and fear of everyone around them. It all ends in a way that is impossible to accept--if you are a townsperson. I loved this story. It is so beautifully written it seems like poetry. The people surrounding the legend of Ramon are terribly flawed and human even as they paint Ramon to be invincible and otherworldly. This book will reinforce your worst fears about humankind and at the same time rekindle your belief in love.

[Salty Swift · Rating 4 out of 5]

This absorbing novel takes place in 30s Spain in a small town smack in the middle of the Pyrenees. Ramon is a poor sheppard who falls in love with Alba - teen daughter of a rich landowner. Over the next few years, Ramon's stubborn determination sees him grow his heard of sheep and then switches over to smuggling weapons across the French border. All the while, he's hoping against all odds to have permission to marry his true love. There are no happy endings in this tale of destitute workforce that's constantly being bled dry by the careless and greedy landowners. Ramon's struggle to gain freedom from the chains and the social expectations is as depressing as it is inspiring.

[Adrián · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo empecé a leer sin grandes expectativas y me engancho de inmediato. Más allá de la trama principal, lo que más valoro de este libro es la capacidad del autor para sumergirnos en la vida de un valle de los Pirineos en una época que no queda tan lejos (años 30). Lo recuerdo con mucho cariño.

[Miranda Monleón · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es una historia de amor que revive los tópicos del amor cortés medieval. Ya desde el principio se puede percibir que el autor se servirá de estos; comienza con el famoso recurso de la "captatio benevolentiae". Después, sigue con la idealización y divinificación de la dama y con que el protagonista sufra síntomas de la enfermedad de amor. A esto se le suma que proceden de diferentes clases sociales, por lo que este amor se convierte en imposible.
Como novedoso, cabe destacar que el tiempo es muy cercano a nosotros, los años 30. Y que el lugar, los Pirineos, hace que la trama resulte especial.
Para mi gusto, la primera parte del libro, en la que nos introduce en la geografía y costumbres del pueblo, es la mejor, y va empeorando conforme avanza.
Si hay algún otro profesor de Lengua y Literatura por aquí, lo recomiendo como lectura didáctica, ya que es breve, entretenido y se le puede sacar partido.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so atmospheric. It focuses wonderfully on the details and intricacies of a small town in the Pyrenees, where, as the narrator says, "nothing ever happens."

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was provided a copy for review by Europa Editions through the GoodReads First Reads program. It is much appreciated!

Lorenzo Mediano's The Frost on His Shoulders (trans. Lisa Dillman) is the recounting of events in a mountain village in the Pyrenees by the local school teacher. These events are controversial: love across social class in a land- and inheritance-obsessed village, where grudges and feuds last for generations. The unnamed school teacher's student, Ramon, falls in love with Alba, the daughter (and only child) of a wealthy land owner. Desperation, separation by a parental authority, and violence all ensue.

To be blut, this is a plot we've all read before. There aren't any particularly striking new twists to the narrative, nor are they any cute re-imaginings to this basic plot line. We know where it's going from the beginning, and an intelligent reader with pick up on it from reading the front flap description of the novel.

What saves this novel is the distinctive narrative voice of the school teacher, who is from the city unlike many of the participants in the story. He chooses to interpret these events through the lens of the atmosphere of tumultuous early 20th-cenntry Spain. A working man challenges land-ownership, and the reactions of the various houses/families are interpreted through a political lens. The descriptions and appreciation for the landscape in which this novel is set also comes through. While I'm unsure at what the book jacket designers meant when adding that this novel is a "gripping work of eco-fiction", the landscape proves to be a driving force in the villagers lives. The quality of the language (which being a novel in translation means that the translator gets some credit for this as well) is exemplarily as usual from an Europa Editions publication. There is also some originality in the motivation for the teacher retelling this story. The spark for the retelling is not in itself romantic. Instead, he's reacting to a newspaper article written about Ramon and Alba with which the villagers disagree. This kind of framing is intriguing, and the reader never gets to read the article for themselves (leaving the reader in the hands of a possibly unreliable narrator).

Overall, with a well worn plot, this novel manages to come off with some degree of originality from the framing and narration. It's not the best and most original thing I've ever read, but I wouldn't mind sitting down with the schoolteacher from Biescas de Obago to see what other stories he has to tell.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romeo and Juliet in the Pyrenees, except not in verse or in English (except in translation). Romeo is a shepherd (Juliet's family--a widowed father--has land), and Lorenzo Mediano, while not forgoing the plot of young love in travail, has a more savage view of what money and its illusions do to people and society than even Shakespeare. Alba's father seeks to auction her off in the marriage market of the landed families of this isolated mountain town but she has her own ideas, mostly concerning Ramon the shepherd. Her father conspires to have him run out of town; his efforts to build a stake large enough for her hand grow increasingly desperate. The novel is narrated by an older schoolteacher, exiled to this backwater by his intemperate politics, and the small town comedy of the first two chapters plods, but once the novel starts to move, it turns gripping.

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first glance, Mediano's The Frost on His Shoulders is a short & simple story of two young lovers destined to be kept apart yet determined to be together. It's set in the Pyrenees Mountains in the 1930's, and Mediano brings to life the harsh, yet beautiful setting: the vertiginous cliffsides, bountiful forests and grazing flocks of sheep and cattle. Then, juxtaposing the natural world's unrelenting force with the rivalry of poor & rich houses in this isolated community, Mediano expands the story to comment on so much more than meets the eye. It's at once a natural, political and social commentary on the power of love and communal silence. I found myself engrossed, and at under 150 pages, it's a read that you'll be able to get through quite easily. Looking forward to checking out more of Mediano's work.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an unexpectedly great little read. The narrator is looking to set the record straight about the story of a pair of star crossed lovers but the the main highlight is the very detailed picture it gives of life in the oppressively hierarchical society that has evolved in this remote Pyrenean mountain village. Although written in 2012, the novel is written in a purposely old fashioned style and although it does occasionally err too much on the side of telling rather than showing (which I normally hate), after the first introductory chapter I didn’t want to put it down.

[personne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a delight! It reminded me of Marcel Pagnol’s “Jean de Florette” books. I am so pleased with this story.

Even though it is set on the eve of the Spanish Civil War, it does such a great job exploring the tensions of the time that led to that conflict. I wish it would come up in Civil War recommended reading lists - I wouldn’t have known about it at all if I hadn’t been browsing the Europa website for fun. It’s a wonderful and surprisingly hopeful exploration of classism.

December 28, 2024

[Miriam Gallego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Novela corta pero maravillosa.
En un inicio me costó un poco aclimatarme a la época, costumbres y lenguaje de la narración, pero conforme avanza la historia, te encuentras apretando los dientes y devorando páginas para llegar al desenlace.
Una historia que enfrenta el amor y la ambición, al odio y la avaricia.
Sentimientos descritos con maestría, hasta el punto de que un comportamiento en apariencia irracional de las gentes del pueblo, está tan bien redactado, que llegas a verte en medio de esa irracionalidad y la entiendes.
Un final para mi inesperado y a la vez sublime.

[Luisa Carmona Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me lo regaló mi hermano. Me empecé el primer capítulo para decidir si me lo llevaba a las vacaciones o no, y me encantó cómo te metía en la historia.
Supe que me iba a gustar por cómo estaba escrito.
La historia, sin más, pero la narración, el ambiente que se describe, la visión del pueblo atrapa lo suficiente como para terminarlo ya que es un libro muy chiquitito.

[Sloane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful parable about class hatred set in the Pyrenées during the Spanish Civil War. There was a fun lightheartedness to the narrator's voice. Good old-fashioned storytelling following an alienated shepherd (turned desperado) who plans his revenge.

[David Valeriano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy buena historia de amor contada por un profesor rural del pirineo aragonés. Buena lectura

[Rory Fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sparse, powerful masterpiece. This book should be way more well-known than it is.

[Adrián Agustín · Rating 4 out of 5]

El Romeo y Julieta bandolero y pirenaico. Encontrando el amor donde el odio lo justifica todo.

[Carax · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

One day, I went to the library, walked to a random aisle, stopped at the middle shelf, and chose the smallest book. This was the result.
2 stars for the first 30 pages that rambled and meandered so much, it took me foooorreevveerrr to get through. 4 stars for the remaining 110 pages. I'm glad I stuck with it!

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a gem of a book! I don't even remember how I heard about it, but I am so glad I did. This is a story of a forbidden love that crosses the deep divide of social strata in an isolated mountain village in Spain in the early 1900s. The lovers are Ramon, a poor shepherd and Alba, the daughter and heir to a rich landowner. While the story revolves around their thwarted relationship, it also plumbs the depths of the long-standing resentments and hatreds between villagers and landowners. It would have been easy for the author to fall into cliche, but he navigates around that pitfall adeptly, and ultimately describes not only what actually happened, but why people may not really want to understand the truth.

This fine work is by a Spanish novelist, and was a pleasurable read for someone like me who is trying to expand my literary horizons.

[Viccy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fusion of a traditional folk tale with political allegory, set in rural Spain during the time of the Spanish Civil War. Biesco de Obago is a small village in the Spanish Pyrenees, where a shepherd named Ramon falls in love with the daughter of a prominent land-owner. Ramon turns to smuggling to earn enough money to declare his love and claim his beloved's hand. Emotions can run high in isolated villages, barren of other entertainment where feuds can endure for a long time. Ramon's smuggling also serves to make him an outcast from his fellow peasants, who resent his new-found wealth. Long-standing conflicts come to a head, this short tale is filled with derring-do and passion. A bit too literary for my taste, but I am notoriously plebian in my reading choice.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly appreciate this complimentary copy of The Frost on His Shoulders by Lorenzo Mediano sent to me by Goodreads First Reads. This is a story of the intense love between Ramon, a poor shepherd and Alba, the daughter of a rich landowner. The extreme measures Ramon took to cross well-defined class boundaries were quite gripping and kept me constantly "on the edge of my seat". The author's elaborate details describing the region and the people were particularly well-written. However, I thought that these "long-winded" details were sometimes a bit distracting to the story. In this story the worst human attributes seemed to prevail which led to a bloody, horrendous outcome. However, the author leaves the reader with hope that good ultimately will triumph.

[Sabena · Rating 5 out of 5]

A love story as simply, efficiently, beautifully and profoundly written as Coelho's By the River Piedra I sat Down and Wept. (In fact, both were set in the Pyrenees (River on the French side, and Frost on the Spanish side)). Mediano does a masterful job of allowing us to walk several miles in his protagonist's shoes, which results in full empathy for his actions, as well as those of his fellow townspeople. The story enlightens us "city folk" to the ways of those who choose (or not, since, he points out, choice is a luxury that most don't have)to live a much harder, but simpler life in which passion and respect for one's fellow man and the bounties of Mother Earth drive all thought and action.

[Kristin Gleeson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An aging school teacher decides to set the record straight and recount the tale of a momentous event that took place in the remote Pyrennees Mountain village that is his home. In an allegorical folksy approach he recounts how Ramon, a shepherd falls in love with Alba, a daughter of a wealthy landowner and tries to win her as his bride through increasingly desperate acts to accumulate sufficient wealth.

It reads almost like a Spaghetti Western with its overdramatic folksy scenes and allegorical moments. The narrator is present and asks for absolution, understanding and sometimes praise for his action which addds an extra element, but at times takes away from the tension of the story.

[librarianh20 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was moved by this little novel. It got off to a slow start, but it was riveting once it was in full swing. I finished quickly and found that the story lingered with me over the course of the day. Ramon's persistence in the face of overwhelming obstacles was inspiring and there was much to ruminate about in the discussion of class and fate. I don't know that this book will find a wide readership, but I will definitely recommend it to others.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful tale so well written in so few pages. Once you start it you will keep on going to the very end.

[Jennifer F · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok.

[Mark Chillingworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful tale of community, mountains, Spanish culture & mystery. Up there with countryman Carlos Ruis Zafon