São 00h15 e não há luar. Agachadas na escuridão, imóveis e em silêncio, as dezoito mulheres da secção de transmissões observam o denso desfile de sombras que se dirige para a margem do rio. Não se ouve nem uma voz, nem um sussurro. Só o som dos passos, às centenas, na terra molhada pelo relento noturno; e, às vezes, o leve entrechocar metálico de espingardas, baionetas, capacetes de aço e cantis. A sucessão de sombras parece interminável. Assim começa Linha da Frente, na noite de 24 para 25 de julho de 1938. A XI Brigada Mista do Exército da República atravessa o rio para se estabelecer em Castellets del Segre. Mas as tropas nacionalistas defendem a área. A Batalha do Ebro está prestes a começar, a mais cruel e sangrenta de todas as batalhas da Guerra Civil. Pela primeira vez em trinta anos de carreira literária, Arturo Pérez-Reverte aborda a Guerra Civil Espanhola. Combina ficção, factos históricos e testemunhos pessoais, colocando o leitor entre aqueles que, por vontade própria ou por força das circunstâncias, lutaram nas frentes de batalha. O que resulta é mais do que um romance sobre a guerra civil, é um retrato de homens e mulheres em tempos de guerra.
Author
Arturo Pérez-Reverte Gutiérrez, is a Spanish novelist and ex-journalist. He worked as a war reporter for twenty-one years (1973 - 1994). He started his journalistic career writing for the now-defunct newspaper Pueblo. Then, he jumped to news reporter for TVE, Spanish national channel. As a war journalist he traveled to several countries, covering many conflicts. He put this experience into his book 'Territorio Comanche', focusing on the years of Bosnian massacres. That was in 1994, but his debut as a fiction writer started in 1983, with 'El húsar', a historical novella inspired in the Napoleonic era. Although his debut was not quite successful, in 1988, with 'The Fencing Master', he put his name as a serious writer of historic novels. That was confirmed in 1996, when was published the first book of his Captain Alatriste saga, which has been his trademark. After this book, he could leave definitely journalism for focusing on his career as a fiction writer. This saga, that happens in the years of the Spanish golden age, has seen, for now, seven volumes, where Pérez-Reverte shows, from his particular point of view, historical events from Spanish history in the 16th century. Apart from these, he also penned another successful works like Dumas Club and Flanders Panel, titles that, among others, made Pérez-Reverte one of the most famous and bestseller authors of Spanish fiction of our era.
