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About the Book

The magnificent account of a year lived on Buda, a rural island in northern Spain, The Last House Before the Sea contemplates the sprawling coastal marshes, flocks of nesting seabirds, and a relentless Atlantic horizon. Author and journalist Gabi Martínez stitches scenes of the natural world alongside the day-to-day lives of the island's residents, many of whose families have called Buda home for generations. But something threatens to disrupt the age-old rhythms of eel fishing, rice farming, and the Ebro River's flow to the coast. . . something is shifting.

As climate change tilts the scale of a fragile coexistence, and rising waves threaten to swallow their fields and farmhouses, the locals must reconcile their past with their future—both beholden to a landscape that grows more endangered with each passing day.

Praise for THE LAST HOUSE BEFORE THE SEA: 

"A monumental book, outstanding, unusual, magnetic, rich, thoughtful, intense and fascinating."

— Jordi Cervera, Diari de Tarragona

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gabi Martínez is the author of eleven fiction and non-fiction books. He is well-known for his outstanding travel writing and literary journalism, and his novels have been selected as books of the year by Spanish literary magazine Qué Leer. Martinez was included in Palgrave/Macmillan’s list of the top five writers of Spanish Vanguardism in the last 20 years.

BOOK DETAILS

Paperback ISBN: 9781632064035 • $22
Publication date: Nov. 11, 2025
5.5" x 8.25" • 352 pages
Adult Nonfiction: Ecosystems & Habitats / Coastal Regions & Shorelines / Essays & Travelogues / Environmental Conservation & Protection / Ecology
Rights: North America, Audio