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Bloomsbury has acquired world English rights to a Spanish novel that tells the story behind the attempted coup against the country's parliament in 1981.
Bill Swainson, alongside Anton Mueller at Bloomsbury USA, bought The Anatomy of a Moment by Javier Cercas from Glòria Masdeu at the Carmen Balcells Agencia Literaria. Rights have also been sold in France and Italy.
Swainson said: "What happened in Madrid on 23rd February 1981 was a key moment in European history, in which the Spain we know today, whose art and culture we now enjoy in a way unimaginable 30 years ago, was born.
"We are delighted to welcome Javier Cercas back to Bloomsbury and to be publishing his wonderfully imaginative and challenging book."
Since the book was published in Spain at the start of April, it has sold more than 150,000 copies, making it the best-selling book by a living author on Spain's national book day, when the trade saw 7.5% of its annual sales alone.
The Anatomy of a Moment explores the minute the Guardia Civil were unknowingly captured on TV cameras bursting into the Cortes and firing their weapons.
Ordered to the ground, only three members of the parliament refused: a retired general, the centrist politician Suarez, who was trying to guide Spain from Franco’s dictatorship to democracy, and the leader of the Communist Party.
Bloomsbury will publish The Anatomy of a Moment simultaneously in the UK and US on the 30th anniversary of the attempted coup: 23rd February 2011. It will be translated by prize-winning translator Anne McLean.