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Proof I Was Here
Days after she arrives in Barcelona, Niki’s world is turned upside down when her fiancé calls off their engagement. Unwilling to return to Toronto and face a looming assault charge, she turns to life on the streets. Living among pickpockets, squatters and graffiti artists in a city she barely knows, she is challenged to reassess her ideas about family, luck and art. With the help of a passionate Catalan separatist who dreams of building a new country from the ground up, Niki realizes that starting her life over from scratch could be an opportunity — if she can just find a way to clear her name.
- GenresFiction
243 pages, Paperback
First published June 25, 2019
2 people are currently reading
1451 people want to read
About the author
Becky Blake
4 books46 followersBECKY BLAKE is an author who divides her time between Toronto and Texas. She has also lived in Barcelona, where she was inspired to write her debut novel Proof I Was Here. Becky is a two-time winner of the CBC Literary Prize (for non-fiction in 2017 and short fiction in 2013). She writes a monthly Substack newsletter called Truly Important for nonfiction writers. She is currently working on a second novel and a memoir-in-essays.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
December 18, 2020
Novel received courtesy of Goodreads.com First Reads Giveaway
Before Niki moves to Barcelona to be with her fiance, she is arrested for shoplifting. She's released from jail with a Summons to Appear and leaves the next day to start the rest of her life in Spain. Unfortunately, when she gets to Peter's apartment, he tells her that he just doesn't love her anymore. She leaves the building with nothing but the clothes on her back.
Over the next several weeks, Niki becomes "Jane". She's a thief, a squatter, a graffiti artist; she becomes no one. The reader learns that she's had practice with thievery since she was a child. The weeks that she lives on the streets make up the bulk of this novel. The people she meets are people that many of us walk right past and consider "no ones". The reader gets to delve deeply into the characters and maybe learn something about those we don't want to see.
I didn't think I would like this book but I most certainly did. It spoke to me about the people on the edges of our society and how they got there. Whether in Spain, Canada or the United States people do exist at the edges. For some, the life is a choice; for others, it's a necessity but each person is living out their only life in this way. The author, Becky Blake, did a wonderful job of researching the subject and wrote deep, believable characters. Kudos for a terrific debut novel!
Before Niki moves to Barcelona to be with her fiance, she is arrested for shoplifting. She's released from jail with a Summons to Appear and leaves the next day to start the rest of her life in Spain. Unfortunately, when she gets to Peter's apartment, he tells her that he just doesn't love her anymore. She leaves the building with nothing but the clothes on her back.
Over the next several weeks, Niki becomes "Jane". She's a thief, a squatter, a graffiti artist; she becomes no one. The reader learns that she's had practice with thievery since she was a child. The weeks that she lives on the streets make up the bulk of this novel. The people she meets are people that many of us walk right past and consider "no ones". The reader gets to delve deeply into the characters and maybe learn something about those we don't want to see.
I didn't think I would like this book but I most certainly did. It spoke to me about the people on the edges of our society and how they got there. Whether in Spain, Canada or the United States people do exist at the edges. For some, the life is a choice; for others, it's a necessity but each person is living out their only life in this way. The author, Becky Blake, did a wonderful job of researching the subject and wrote deep, believable characters. Kudos for a terrific debut novel!
November 6, 2019
The great city of Barcelona deserved a better protagonist than the self-centered judgmental girl that it got in this book. Gosh, if I could slap Niki I would. Her inability to recognize her white privilege is outstanding. The entire time she is too proud to deal with her life so she chooses to be homeless and take advantage of others who are starving, homeless and trapped in cycles of violence or shame rather than face her ex.
March 6, 2019
Becky Blake's first novel does not disappoint. Her main character is such a fascinating woman and I felt as if I was right behind her as she wanders the streets of Barcelona. An excellent book that once i started reading couldn't put down. Makes me want to go and visit Barcelona!
August 8, 2019
I loved Becky Blake's "Proof I Was Here". In fact, I think it is in my top five for the year and one of my favourites in a long time.
The writing is uniquely precise and succinct and yet expansively evocative. It feels uncluttered and clean while still providing a range of detail that captures tone and intent skillfully. Sprinkled throughout are ‘lists’, for lack of a more fitting word, that describe places and experiences in terms that engage the senses fully. A small example, “…the finer details of the city leaping out at me for a moment: the lacy edge of a red fan in a shop window, the sweet smoky smell of hot chocolate and cigarettes as a café door open and closed.”…I felt like I was there.
The book is described as a coming of age story set largely in Barcelona, but it felt like much more than that to me. It was an existential kind of self-discovery. It opens the eyes, reminds us that people are complex, that we should be compassionate, have an open mind, and to live presently, letting go of what we can’t control. The book jacket description left me ambivalent about whether I’d like this story—it didn't sound like a story I'd relate to but, having read it now, I'm sure it's a story we can all relate to. I enjoyed it so much, become so engrossed in the characters that I forced myself to ration my reading, allowing myself to read it in the evenings only so I would have the story with me a little longer. There is no better feeling than reading a book and missing the characters the day after you’ve finished the story and still wondering about it a week or more later.
This is a must read.
The writing is uniquely precise and succinct and yet expansively evocative. It feels uncluttered and clean while still providing a range of detail that captures tone and intent skillfully. Sprinkled throughout are ‘lists’, for lack of a more fitting word, that describe places and experiences in terms that engage the senses fully. A small example, “…the finer details of the city leaping out at me for a moment: the lacy edge of a red fan in a shop window, the sweet smoky smell of hot chocolate and cigarettes as a café door open and closed.”…I felt like I was there.
The book is described as a coming of age story set largely in Barcelona, but it felt like much more than that to me. It was an existential kind of self-discovery. It opens the eyes, reminds us that people are complex, that we should be compassionate, have an open mind, and to live presently, letting go of what we can’t control. The book jacket description left me ambivalent about whether I’d like this story—it didn't sound like a story I'd relate to but, having read it now, I'm sure it's a story we can all relate to. I enjoyed it so much, become so engrossed in the characters that I forced myself to ration my reading, allowing myself to read it in the evenings only so I would have the story with me a little longer. There is no better feeling than reading a book and missing the characters the day after you’ve finished the story and still wondering about it a week or more later.
This is a must read.
July 28, 2019
i was excited to read this book after reading Becky Blake's two award-winning short pieces.
written as a first-person narrative occurring over a couple of weeks, the engaging and exciting story raises thoughts and themes that i think many who have had the privilege to travel likely experience: the excitement and romanticism of arriving somewhere new and different; the feeling of "discovery"; the self-consciousness and perhaps self-loathing of being a tourist; the attempt to be the distinct and discerning traveller trying to find the "real" place. the book also questions our ties to the places we come from, and our expectations in ourselves and others when we leave those places, seeking respite, or some new home, elsewhere.
the protagonist lives these concerns honestly and openly, taking risks--by choice, by circumstance, or by necessity--that other travels don't, can't, won't (, shouldn't) take, but might pay the "edgier" tour company to provide them a glimpse of. the result is a well-paced adventure, that is also sensitive and introspective.
written as a first-person narrative occurring over a couple of weeks, the engaging and exciting story raises thoughts and themes that i think many who have had the privilege to travel likely experience: the excitement and romanticism of arriving somewhere new and different; the feeling of "discovery"; the self-consciousness and perhaps self-loathing of being a tourist; the attempt to be the distinct and discerning traveller trying to find the "real" place. the book also questions our ties to the places we come from, and our expectations in ourselves and others when we leave those places, seeking respite, or some new home, elsewhere.
the protagonist lives these concerns honestly and openly, taking risks--by choice, by circumstance, or by necessity--that other travels don't, can't, won't (, shouldn't) take, but might pay the "edgier" tour company to provide them a glimpse of. the result is a well-paced adventure, that is also sensitive and introspective.
December 25, 2019
I’m torn about this title. On the one hand I really enjoyed reading it - I wanted to keep reading it and hurried to get back to it every time I had to put it down. On the other hand I really disliked the protagonist Niki/Jane - and I get that we don’t have to like everyone we meet in the books we read, just as in life. But it helps…
I thoroughly enjoyed the gritty reality of Barcelona as it is portrayed… and the commentary on the social and political state of affairs that is Spain, and more broadly, the EU. I enjoyed the cast of supporting characters, those living on the fringes - or less - of society and creating community - and family - to support each other… confirmation that there are other equally valid ‘modes of existence’...
But back to Niki/Jane and her circumstances. She got awfully tiresome awfully quickly. Hypocritcal, self-absorbed - narcissistic - privileged… with the nerve to call out - to judge - people for the very same things she is and have the nerve to find them wanting. And she blames everyone but herself for her situation. The ‘woe is me’ is not appealing at all. Yes she’s had some crap to deal with in her life - who hasn’t to some extent or another? But she is white, educated, with friends/family behind her to support her and she made a conscious - albeit hasty and emotionally charged - choice to end up as she is throughout the novel. Most of the street people she ends up associating with would, I’m sure, love to have such choice...
I thoroughly enjoyed the gritty reality of Barcelona as it is portrayed… and the commentary on the social and political state of affairs that is Spain, and more broadly, the EU. I enjoyed the cast of supporting characters, those living on the fringes - or less - of society and creating community - and family - to support each other… confirmation that there are other equally valid ‘modes of existence’...
But back to Niki/Jane and her circumstances. She got awfully tiresome awfully quickly. Hypocritcal, self-absorbed - narcissistic - privileged… with the nerve to call out - to judge - people for the very same things she is and have the nerve to find them wanting. And she blames everyone but herself for her situation. The ‘woe is me’ is not appealing at all. Yes she’s had some crap to deal with in her life - who hasn’t to some extent or another? But she is white, educated, with friends/family behind her to support her and she made a conscious - albeit hasty and emotionally charged - choice to end up as she is throughout the novel. Most of the street people she ends up associating with would, I’m sure, love to have such choice...
June 23, 2019
Proof I Was Here is the perfect title for this fast paced novel in which Nikki - erased from the relationship that brought her to Barcelona and now homeless by choice - drifts through the city's invisible parts: the world of pickpockets, squatters and graffiti artists. In her quest of finding herself, she wonders about the mark she leaves in the world or in other words: the proof that she was here. The way her view of Barcelona changes as she sees it through the eyes of the people who take her under their wing challenges our own conception of the world around us.
November 26, 2019
I must of missed the purpose of this novel, or I did not get it. Woman from Canada,Toronto, goes to Barcelona where her boyfriend calls off the wedding. She stays in Spain but decides to live on the street. She commits crime. Wait, it is OK to destroy the vacations of others who are victims! Did not get it. So your life was turned up side down by your fiance so you and your friends destroy innocent vacationers fun! How is that justified? Not a good story. Later. Keep Reading.
November 19, 2019
Literary Fiction that takes a few sharp turns
We've all made mistakes in our life. If you've emerged from your 20s intact, I'm sure you can recall a handful of times that - wow did you make the wrong decision, and wow are you fortunate that you emerged unscathed.
The main character of Proof I Was Here, Niki - makes mistakes that will put yours to shame, and continues to make them.
In short, when she is left high and dry in Barcelona by her fiance, she stays in the city and becomes a pickpocket.
Sometimes she calls herself a freegan.
At best, she is a freegan, at worst she is a pickpocket - but make no mistake, she relies on criminality to survive
Niki is a character who goes there, in the shade of Gillian Flynn. Niki is not always a sympathetic character.
She is put upon by life, but then takes it out on innocent tourists.
She scams them, takes their wallet - whatever it takes to get 40 Euros.
Yes, you want to slap her at times - stealing the Euros is not bad - but someone's wallet? That can set someone back.
But you don't slap her - you turn the page, because Blake's book and Niki's tale are both great.
She collects the ID cards, and occasionally uses them when an authority figure asks who she is.
Is Niki a good person? 80% of the time yes, but 20% she is not - she is a bad person in the most unadorned sense of the word.
And this is where the book may split the readership in two
Do you want to read about a self-absorbed 20-something who makes really, really bad decisions?
Some may not like this, but I did - because these really bad decisions are unique. I liked how Becky Blake chose not to pull any punches.
Niki is not an out and out criminal - she ends her crimes at misdemeanors. No one really gets hurt because of her, except herself.
But Blake does not adorn Niki with a scene to pull her character back. I like this, just like I like Gillian Flynn's characters as they just go in a direction, with nothing to pull them back.
And you should read it - because if not, you'll miss out.
There's more here than just Niki and her bad decisions.
There's Catalan breaking away from Spain, there's people who live on the margins - and there are themes I've found in Gabriela Wiener.
For those of you who don't know - Wiener is a South American journalist who writes quite a bit about people on the margins. In Sexographies she wrote about the strange dynamic of Transsexual Peruvians who are kicked out of their home, move to Europe, become prostitutes in parks, and send money back home to Peru.
It's a strange dynamic, and though Niki and her friends aren't quite like that, they certainly find extreme situations.
And Blake explores it well.
So in short, I recommend this book with its extreme protagonist
Niki is a lot of thing, but perhaps most of all, she is extreme. That's what makes her interesting to me, and I hope you will find her interesting as well.
We've all made mistakes in our life. If you've emerged from your 20s intact, I'm sure you can recall a handful of times that - wow did you make the wrong decision, and wow are you fortunate that you emerged unscathed.
The main character of Proof I Was Here, Niki - makes mistakes that will put yours to shame, and continues to make them.
In short, when she is left high and dry in Barcelona by her fiance, she stays in the city and becomes a pickpocket.
Sometimes she calls herself a freegan.
At best, she is a freegan, at worst she is a pickpocket - but make no mistake, she relies on criminality to survive
Niki is a character who goes there, in the shade of Gillian Flynn. Niki is not always a sympathetic character.
She is put upon by life, but then takes it out on innocent tourists.
She scams them, takes their wallet - whatever it takes to get 40 Euros.
Yes, you want to slap her at times - stealing the Euros is not bad - but someone's wallet? That can set someone back.
But you don't slap her - you turn the page, because Blake's book and Niki's tale are both great.
She collects the ID cards, and occasionally uses them when an authority figure asks who she is.
Is Niki a good person? 80% of the time yes, but 20% she is not - she is a bad person in the most unadorned sense of the word.
And this is where the book may split the readership in two
Do you want to read about a self-absorbed 20-something who makes really, really bad decisions?
Some may not like this, but I did - because these really bad decisions are unique. I liked how Becky Blake chose not to pull any punches.
Niki is not an out and out criminal - she ends her crimes at misdemeanors. No one really gets hurt because of her, except herself.
But Blake does not adorn Niki with a scene to pull her character back. I like this, just like I like Gillian Flynn's characters as they just go in a direction, with nothing to pull them back.
And you should read it - because if not, you'll miss out.
There's more here than just Niki and her bad decisions.
There's Catalan breaking away from Spain, there's people who live on the margins - and there are themes I've found in Gabriela Wiener.
For those of you who don't know - Wiener is a South American journalist who writes quite a bit about people on the margins. In Sexographies she wrote about the strange dynamic of Transsexual Peruvians who are kicked out of their home, move to Europe, become prostitutes in parks, and send money back home to Peru.
It's a strange dynamic, and though Niki and her friends aren't quite like that, they certainly find extreme situations.
And Blake explores it well.
So in short, I recommend this book with its extreme protagonist
Niki is a lot of thing, but perhaps most of all, she is extreme. That's what makes her interesting to me, and I hope you will find her interesting as well.
July 26, 2019
I have never been to Barcelona, but in a sense I felt that this novel took me there. I was exploring the city along with Niki/Jane throughout the story-line. I could smell the air and imagine the sun on my face. I could feel the energy coming from the city's lively inhabitants that she encounters and befriends. Niki/Jane is relatable character and I wasn't ready to say goodbye to her when the book ended. I wanted to continue following her, just steps behind, to see what she was up to(/against) next.
March 30, 2021
What a fantastic journey through the streets of Barcelona! The narrative voice and the main character, Niki, makes this book such an easy and quick read. But that doesn't mean there isn't character complexity and emotional depth. Trying to navigate sudden (and kind of self-imposed) homelessness, Niki jumps into the role of street thief, freeganism and political graffiti art, before she realizes she needs to return home and face the consequences of her past mistakes.
This book is hopeful and fun. Recommended reading for sure.
This book is hopeful and fun. Recommended reading for sure.
October 14, 2024
Proof I was Here is a meditation on impermanence, woven as a gritty modern-day adventure. It is a compulsively readable tale of being down and out, lost and forgotten, in one of Europe’s most iconic cities. But it is also a reminder of how easily everything we cling to, all that we take for granted, can slip our grasp. In spare, glittering prose, Becky Blake takes the reader through the back alleys of Barcelona, and shows how losing everything of oneself can bring the rest of the world into focus.
June 20, 2019
I immediately gravitated towards this book because of the title! Then, admittedly, it had all my favourite elements; Barcelona, young thieves, hustlers, buskers and graffiti artists. Broken hearts, complicated friendships, freeganism (fascinating idea), and dysfunctional familial relationships. This book was my perfect kind of escape read. Nikki aka Jane, kleptomaniac when stressed kept me following her adventures, holding my breath and wishing her all the best.
August 31, 2019
Becky Blake takes the reader on an unexplored, eye-opening and elemental adventure through the heart and soul of Barcelona’s multi-dimensional landscape. She teaches us that life has a strange power to jolt complacency, unearth havoc and yet provide the means to better understand ourselves and others. A beautiful story of Niki, flawed and familiar, and the many compelling characters she shares her journey with.
March 21, 2021
This is the real Barcelona, not the one that the hoards of tourists think they see. I want to thank Becky Blake for publishing this book to a North American audience.
Proof I Was Here is an honest story of an imperfect woman struggling to belong. Niki/Jane is not a cookie-cutter protagonist and her choices are not always in the best interest of others. I found the story to be raw, engaging and real.
Proof I Was Here is an honest story of an imperfect woman struggling to belong. Niki/Jane is not a cookie-cutter protagonist and her choices are not always in the best interest of others. I found the story to be raw, engaging and real.
October 8, 2024
This book was hard to put down, which is not normally the case for me with realistic fiction. I really liked the cast of characters and the number of issues broached here, even if I sometimes found the narrator frustrating. It's a nice exploration of privilege, and the different layers of it that exist. The writing is a beautiful blend of straightforward prose with unexpected turns of phrase that are lovely and rhythmic.
June 29, 2023
I chanced upon this book blindly right before our vacation in Barcelona and first time in Spain. All of the landmarks we visited were made more meaningful by the story.
The author also articulated my intention that I had never been able to explain to my mom for why I was volunteering in underdeveloped countries in my 20's.
Overall, this was a perfect summer read for me.
The author also articulated my intention that I had never been able to explain to my mom for why I was volunteering in underdeveloped countries in my 20's.
Overall, this was a perfect summer read for me.
September 30, 2019
This is a great book. Visceral and vulnerable. I felt like I was following, running along with Nikki and sharing her adventures and yet hiding in the shadows rooting for her. I hope this book gets made into a movie. It would be a wonderful thriller and a tale of lost love and survival. Bravo Becky Blake!
August 30, 2020
A young girl moves to Spain to marry her boyfriend. Shortly after she arrives, they split up and she find herself homeless and she lives on the streets and in abandoned building meeting many other street people.
August 13, 2019
A page turner, I thoroughly enjoyed Niki’s desperate adventurous journey through the world of Barcelona pick pockets, squatters and graffiti artists.
October 14, 2019
Interesting read about belonging. Author takes the reader to the city of Barcelona.
January 4, 2020
I was hooked by the end of the first page and could not put it down.
April 10, 2021
A book about being lost, and trying to find your way back. And bonus-based in Barcelona!
November 24, 2021
A stellar read by a stellar author. Thanks for that Becky.
June 23, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. An easy light read but interesting.
September 15, 2025
I love Blake’s writing! This is a beautiful book about personal collapse and renewal.
September 29, 2019
Loved this book! was a fun read good charachters but the ending I was hoping for more drama . Toronto girl goes to Spain with fiance he dumps her. She cant go back home she has charges. Roams around with homeless people. Graffiti artists protesters. BF leaves I did not like that part. Has to get to apt.for I.D. was hoping she ran into ex fiance and there was an ending there. Also she never opened the letter from her mom ?
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews