Paula's partner has died in a car accident - but no one knows her true grief. Only hours before his death, Mauro revealed that he was leaving her for another woman. Paula guards this secret and ploughs on with her job as a paediatrician in Barcelona, trying to maintain the outline of their old life. But all of Mauro's plants are dying, the fridge only contains expired yoghurt and her mind feverishly obsesses over this other, unknown woman. As the weeks pass, vitality returns to Paula in unexpected ways. She remembers, slowly, how to live. By turns devastating and darkly funny, Learning to Talk to Plants is a piercingly honest portrayal of grief - and of the many ways to lose someone.

A slighted wife escapes her wealthy family for the evening and stumbles into the city's red-light district... The head of security at Barcelona's container port searches for a figure that only he has seen sneak in... An elderly woman brings home a machine that will turn her body into atoms, so she can leave behind a city that is no longer recognisable... Historically, Barcelona is a city of resistance and independence; a focal point for Catalan identity, as well as the capital of Spanish republicanism. Nestled between the Mediterranean coast and mountains, this burgeoning city has also been home to some of the greatest names in modern art and architecture, and attracts visitors and migrants from all over the world. As a result, the city is a melting-pot of cultures, and the stories gathered here offer a miscellany of form and genre, fittingly reminiscent of one of Gaudi's mosaics. From the boy-giant outgrowing his cramped flat on the city's outskirts, to the love affair that begins in a launderette, we meet characters who are reclaiming the independence of their city by challenging common misconceptions and telling its myriad truths.