Seven Red Sundays

The time is 1935. The place is Madrid, a city beset by labor unrest which has raised fears—and among some, hopes—of revolution. At an overflow meeting of workingmen, the military intervenes and three of the workers’ leaders and a member of the socialist party are killed. A public funeral ends in street fighting, sabotage, and the prospect of a general strike throughout Spain. From these events Ramón Sender has fashioned a novel of terror and beauty—one of the great unsung works of the 20th century. Behind the confused and conflicting theories of the revolutionaries who are the central characters of Seven Red Sundays, Mr. Sender discovers a sublime faith and a spirit of self-sacrifice. But whether these idealists with guns represent hope or despair is a haunting question which the reader must decide. “Magnificent…a masterpiece.”—New York Times Book Review. “An extraordinary book, extremely intelligent. As exciting as a long ski run on a crisp morning and as beautiful and dangerous.”—New Statesman.

A novel of terror and beauty about a revolutionary uprising of workingmen in Madrid in 1935.

Ramon J. Sender (1902–1982), the great Spanish novelist, received almost every literary prize his countrymen had to offer. He has supported the republican cause during the Spanish civil war and was forced to leave Spain in 1937. He eventually settled in the United States and died in San Diego.