Irene Solà is one of those writers whose style you recognise from the first page.

Her stories are steeped in Catalan folklore, deep in the forest, existing outside of time. The characters are portrayed as ugly animals, they fart, shit, smell bad and have sex - if there is the opportunity for a disgusting sentence Solà will write it.

'I Gave You Eyes...' is set during one day, from dawn to nightfall, as women gather in a large countryhouse in the expectation of the imminent death of their family member Bernadeta. It took me a while to realise what was going in, but during the day we travel through centuries of family history, all the way from the matriarch to the dying Bernadeta and her daughter and granddaughter. It reminded me of One Hundred Years of Solitude more than once, but completely different at the same time.

Some may find the stories off-putting and I liked it less than its predecessor 'When I Sing...' but it's hard to deny the quality of the writing.