I truly believe that the universe has a way of bringing the right book into your life when you need it most. This is the case with To Barcelona and Back: One Writer’s Tour of Spain by Pamela Sargent.

Sargent, a veteran science fiction writer, was at a crossroads in her career during the early 1990s. She received an invitation from her Spanish publisher to go on a book tour in Spain for her historical fiction novel, Ruler of the Sky: A Novel of Genghis Khan.  In her introduction, Sargent writes about her professional troubles and coming to Spain offered a reprieve from everything that was going on.

During her eleven-day trip in early May 1994, she visited Barcelona, Madrid, Santiago, and Zaragoza. Her purpose was to give talks at several universities, covering both her own work and the broader subject of science fiction. I will admit I did not find those talks interesting as a reader. However, her descriptions of each city she visited were the gems of this travel memoir.

For example, this is a description of the famed Barcelonian landmark, La Sagrada Familia:

“The place is as strange and eerie as I expected. Above the entrance are huge angular stone figures, sculpted by Josep Maria Subirachs. The figures depict the scenes shown in the Stations of the Cross; the Roman soldiers look as though they could have come from a science fiction movie, and the figure of Christ on the cross is completely nude. Above all of this rise the almost impossibly slender spires of the cathedral.”

“We walked around to the other side, the east entrance, to study the structure. It’s the perfect example of something that shouldn’t work, that shouldn’t move the viewer, but does.”

The book contains descriptions like this one, which is exactly what I need to get a perspective for my upcoming visit to Spain (specifically Barcelona, Madrid, & Seville) in a few days. Despite being set in Spain thirty years ago, Sargent’s travel chronicles deeply resonated with me and highlighted the significance of travel in one’s life.

Within two days, I completed reading To Barcelona and Back, and I highlighted several noteworthy parts of the book. That is a good sign for my approval of a book.  Here is one of those highlighted passages from near the end of the book:

“Madrid had won my respect, but Barcelona had my heart.”

Although this sentence may inadvertently ignite the ongoing rivalry between Spain’s two biggest cities, I view it as a compliment to both of them. I will get to find out if my feelings are the same as Sargent’s or different.

For those who enjoy travel memoirs, reading about writers’ lives, or are preparing for a trip to Spain, To Barcelona and Back is a must-read. This will be one of my favorite reads of 2024.