It was a highlighted work at the X Premios Literarios Ediciones Oblicuas from among more than 800 entries.
On the list of the 10 best-selling books in Spain in the autumn of 2021.
Publisher: Ediciones Oblicuas.
First edition published in 2016.
Second edition published in 2020.
I.S.B.N. 978-84-18397-22-6.
Country of publication: Spain.
Language: Spanish.
[Everyday life and beauty are blended with the darkest and vilest parts of humanity. Intimate tales with Madrid as a backdrop. Miguel Berzal de Miguel, director of the feature film Sin novedad (No News), excites us as a writer with his turbulent short stories].
AISGE (Spain)
“Madrid is not a city for routine… Unsettling characters who are distanced from the apparent routine of the metropolis. Normal-seeming families who end up embracing darkness… Refreshing dialogue and a close narrative, with nothing extraneous”.
Más Leer (Spain)
“A jewel of everyday tales; a novel that is beautiful in narrative, but hard in essence. Stories that emerge from the city of Madrid and from the inside of their characters”.
Amarás el Cine (Spain)
“Your characters have ideals; they all dream about something, for example, being love (…) The city of Madrid as the link between lots of stories which, although different from one another, do have a common connecting thread in their search for truth”.
El Impacto Digital (Spain)
“Exciting tales in the city of Madrid. Las horas muertas (The Dead Hours) is a series of stories that entrap you. I recommend reading them in order to reflect while enjoying an exquisite narrative”.
MundoArti (Spain)
“Uncomfortable narratives, of the kind that generate uneasiness in the reader…”.
Diario Abierto (Spain)
“What life there is in Las horas muertas (The Dead Hours) by Miguel Berzal de Miguel! Everyday situations dominate in this selection of tales. With no fanfare, the characters draw you in, because he delves deeply into them, into the details of their thoughts and feelings; and you see the stories evolve, just as the characters do, sometimes triumphing, at other times sinking into despair, with tragedy also making an occasional appearance. I was particularly moved by the fragile Francisco, trying to fit in with the life he has been given to live”.
Lola Casamayor
“Beauty, kindness, love, forgiveness, but also cruelty, brutality, evil, and pain are present in his work along with great depth, realism, and simplicity. Miguel Berzal de Miguel creates characters that are hard to forget, from whom you don’t want to be parted. His books are a lucid diagnosis of the world in which we live, a profound dissection of the human being”.
Film Daily News (USA)