José Manuel Cervera Carbonell, aged 82, has dedicated his life to teaching as a Professor of Physics and Chemistry. After retiring in 2007, he took up writing as a second vocation. Since then, he has published thirteen books, with a further three in the pipeline, including Mireia ha muerto, illustrated by Claudia Oitaven, a former student and friend.

His work engages deeply with the story of his father, author of Allez, Allez, Reculez. At just 18 years old, José Manuel’s father volunteered during Franco’s uprising, served as a lieutenant in the Republican Army and ended up a prisoner at the Argelès-sur-Mer camp. His account became the family’s most successful book. José Manuel revisits this legacy in El hijo del rojo, in which he recounts his own life from the end of the war to the advent of democracy, uniting two generations through memory and literature.