At the end of this year I wrote the last literary criticism of the year for this weekly ARGIA. Honor is mine. I invite you to end the year and go to the last page of the book to start the book. Before you start reading, enliven the lounge with these songs. If you know them you will know that they will give us the opportunity to create a quiet and special atmosphere. In the songs I have collected the introspective and magical atmosphere of the winter solstice. Prepare hot chocolate or a glass of wine. And enjoy it.

This first book by Oihane Amantegi has an amazing and striking beginning. Many times I have heard Josune Muñoz say that the choice of a good anecdote is the brand of a good writer and that it is not easy to solve well the impact that this anecdote generates and maintain the tension that it demands. Well, Amantegi manages to maintain the weight of the anecdote and maintain a high level throughout the book.

The twin sister who was born dead and the one who was born alive is presented to us from very early. From there, he will talk about the pain of life and death, about its limits and its contradiction. The program will try to blur the usual division in Western culture, bringing life and death closer to the city. This will happen through the dream, imagination and inner life of the main character. A place for a magical and rich world. He will play between the story and the novel, questioning the limits of the literary genres.

The river is the stream that bears the words of the story: The Ochlockonee River, the riverbank, the overflow of rivers, the icy rivers, the streams -- it's a moving place as a physical space. It's also a strength of beauty. He also has a long life. On the other hand, it is the hiding place of magical beings. Mysteriously. Dangerous. Water, the world of emotions, functions as a metaphor for creating a dialogue between two worlds.

The book does not reach a hundred pages and at a glance we will realize that each section is composed of very short chapters. This smallness contrasts with the depth of what we are told and generates a stimulating effect in the reader. Through a magnificent anecdote, an intense rhythm, a daring subject and an unbeatable metaphor, the novel has emerged round and balanced from the pen of Oihane Amantegi. Thank you very much, Oihane, for supplying the sea of literature with new rivers. By 2021 I will ask you for health and great letter carriers. To keep dreaming.