I was in Switzerland when I saw that Bonnie Garmus (Lessons in Chemistry) was going to be signing books at the San Jordi book fair in Barcelona on April 23. I’m lucky to be able to divide my time between Switzerland and Spain, namely just outside Geneva and not far from Girona, which is roughly an hour north of Barcelona. I initially hadn’t planned on coming back to Spain until early May, but I’d never been to the Barcelona literary festival where – from what I understand - the tradition is that you buy your boyfriend/husband a book, and he buys you a rose. I had heard that it is very popular, with flowers everywhere, and building facades decorated with red roses. Also, Bonnie Garmus is a rock star in my eyes, so I flew in last week!
I took the train to Barcelona yesterday morning, but arrived too late to make Bonnie’s first signing. The atmosphere felt quite overwhelming; when they say that this festival is hugely popular, they’re not kidding! I tend to find crowds overwhelming, so really HUGE crowds in a big city where I don’t know my way around was pretty full on for my anxiety. But I resisted my initial urge to call it far too much of a commotion and bolt straight back to the countryside!
With an hour to spare, I headed down a side street, found a little café, had a quiet coffee, took out my tiny notebook and wrote some silly poetry to calm myself down. Then I headed back to bedlam to see if I could figure out where Bonnie might be. I’m a right twit with Google maps and can never figure out which way I have to walk, plus my IPhone’s battery is beginning to show signs of exhaustion way before it should, and I didn’t want to end up phone-less in case I ended up lost and wandering around Barcelona for hours on end. Eventually, after asking about half a dozen people who apparently found it great fun to send me around in circles, I found the bookshop where Bonnie was supposed to be, only to be told that she was actually signing books on one of the stalls on Passeu de Gracia, about two metres from where I’d initially come out of the train station. By then of course I had no idea how to get back there, and had to ask another six people for directions.
After looping the loop a few times just for fun, I made it back to the main artery where hundreds of little tents were set up for signings, and where thousands of people were milling about, buying books, and having them signed by their authors. It made me happy to see such enthusiasm for books and authors!
I got lucky and spotted the right tent thanks to a van parked behind it marked with the name of the bookshop I’d just been to. And there she was, Bonnie Garmus, seated behind her table. I bought a copy of her book in Spanish (there was a choice of Spanish, French and possibly Catalan) and went to say hello. I’ve had a tiny bit of interaction with her on Instagram, and had told her I’d be coming to see her there. So, I just said, “Hi, I’m Francesca”, and she immediately knew who I was. She’s a lovely lady, very natural, with the most beautiful cornflower blue eyes and a gentle way about her. We had a little chat, and when I told her I lived mostly in Switzerland her eyes sparkled and she said she’d lived in Zurich for a few years. Then she signed my book, and a lady helping her out took a couple of photos of us, and I said thank you, goodbye, and that was that!
I then hesitated. Should I brave the crowds or head home? There’s a boutique in Barcelona I’m dying to visit because it sells really fun, colourful clothes, but I have no idea where it is, and I figured it really wasn’t the day to try to find out, nor even take a taxi because traffic was crazy too. Also, I have too many clothes…
So, I got on a very smelly, very slow train back towards Girona that would make an even smellier sounding poem than the one I wrote last week about the smelly man at the airport, but this time it was just too gross to even consider writing poetry about! Trust me, armpit juice was Shalimar compared to this… Although when I told my daughter about it on the phone, she said there’ll definitely be a poem about the smelly train. She’s probably right.
So, there you have it. My grand day out in Barcelona, meeting Bonnie Garmus!
Have you read Lessons in Chemistry? I loved it. I saw the series too, and enjoyed it, but was a little thrown by the differences in the storyline, but I guess that’s what happens when books are adapted for the screen. Have you seen both?
Lessons in Chemistry was my book of the year. I just loved it. Bonnie really struggled to get published, which seems hard to believe now. I think originally it had been a much longer story, parts of which she still has up her sleeve for another book. But she just hit it pitch perfect with this one. I thought the Apple adaptation was very good. They did stay fairly faithful to the book at first, certainly the spirit of it, but it was a bit rushed later on. I thought they could have taken longer over the last part of the story to tell it properly. Still a very good series though. Cast, production design and writing were great.
I love how your commitment and persistence paid off. It’s a lovely photograph too. Maybe one day you will look back with a less critical eye and it be a fond moment captured perfectly.