Family drama ‘Spanish Practices’ published by Chiselbury

Chiselbury is pleased to announce the publication of ‘Spanish Practices’, by Richard Townsend. It relates nearly half a century of observations of ‘Rico’, an Englishman married into an eccentric family in a ‘left-behind’ corner of Spain.

Among others, we meet Macu, the maiden aunt who runs the family wine business with an iron fist and controls the family purse-strings; mother-in-law Mamí, whose sons can do no wrong, except when they do; brother-in-law Chus, who has a loose interpretation of the marriage vows and a dangerous weakness for the bottle; and younger brother-in-law Sancho, who becomes pivotal to the family’s succession battles and their struggles with the local rival winery.

Initially an outsider, Rico is drawn ever deeper into the family mire as well as facing, with his wife Marina, his own fraught relationships with neighbours, local planning laws and the busy body ‘Authorities’.

Through the interplay of rivalries, conflicts and vicissitudes ‘Spanish Practices’ illuminates the idiosyncrasies of Spanish ways and exemplifies the travails of a society in the throes of wholesale transformation.

Richard Townsend is a linguist and historian by training who ended up as a self-employed adviser to private companies on their financial and other affairs. He is married with two adult children and two small granddaughters. He lives with his Spanish wife in London and Northern Spain. This is his first novel.  

‘Spanish Practices’ is available for purchase here, from all good bookshops and worldwide from Amazon. ISBNs 978-1-908291-91-2 (Hardback) and 978-1-908291-91-5 (Paperback). It is also available as a Kindle edition. If you would like a review copy please email info@chiselbury.co.uk.