Fernando Lalana Recommends The Tunnel Borer

Greetings! Welcome to what has been my workplace for the past 43 years. I am Fernando Lalana, a writer, and if there are people of a certain age who still remember me, it is surely because of Morirás en Chafarinas, that novel of mine which was adapted into a film in the mid-1990s.

However, in the twenty-first century, my most successful novel—an even longer-lasting success than Morirás en Chafarinas—has been, and continues to be, La Tuneladora (The Tunnel Borer). La Tuneladora is the third novel featuring the detective Fermín Escartín, and yet it is usually the entry point for most readers into that literary world of the Zaragoza-based investigator, which so far comprises six titles.

It is true, The Tunnel Borer is not my favorite book. I don’t even think it is my favorite within the Detective Escartín series. And yet, if I had to recommend just one book out of my 160 works, blindly—that is, to a reader I knew nothing about—I believe my first choice would precisely be La Tuneladora.

Why? Because I have found many times that It is true, The Tunnel Borer is not my favorite book. I don’t even think it is my favorite within the Detective Escartín series. And yet, if I had to recommend just one book out of my 160 works, blindly—that is, to a reader I knew nothing about—I believe my first choice would precisely be La Tuneladora.

 is what we call a foolproof book. Wherever it goes, it succeeds, and it appeals to the vast majority of readers. It is true, it is not my favorite, but the truth is that it fulfills all the conditions I demand of a true young adult novel.

Unlike what happens with so-called “teen novels,” a true young adult novel is actually a novel for adults: a genre novel with adult characters, but which, due to its contained length and the peculiar narrative pace it has, is also accessible, engaging, fun, and exciting for even very young readers. And for these very young readers, a young adult novel already begins to give, so to speak, clues, right? It allows them to intuit or begin to suspect what real books are like—what those books are like that are waiting for them to become, to reach the status of, genuine readers.

A young adult novel is like a kind of springboard that allows us to gain momentum to reach what we call definitive literature. I am sure that if you give La Tuneladora 20 or 30 pages of your attention, Detective Scarí will grab you by the collar and drag you into his somewhat unsettling world, but one that is also sprinkled with humor and very entertaining scenes.

In short, I hope we meet again soon, and above all, that we do so through the pages of La Tuneladora. Until then, thank you very much, and many happy readings!