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BIENVENIDOS, welcome, to the web presence of Smiffs
Book & Card Store, the local English language specialist
bookshop for
Nerja, the jewel of the eastern Costa del Sol in Spain's most
colourful region, Andalucía.
OPENING HOURS
August
Mon to Fri
1000 - 1400
1800 - 2200
Sat
1000 - 1400
September
Mon to Sat
1000 - 1400
1800 - 2100
Sat
1000 - 1400
BOOKS
We stock
the latest bestselling books, maintain a strong selection of reference books to
help you get the best from living in Spain,
and order new, out-of-print and antiquarian books.
BOOK ORDERS
We can find you books new, second hand, Out
of Print, and antiquarian. Our delivery times to Nerja for books in stock
at major wholesalers is second to none. New books ordered by Friday lunchtime will
generally be in Nerja between Wednesday and Friday of the following week for
items in stock at the warehouse.
CARDS, GAMES, STATIONERY
We stock a
large range of quality greetings cards,
including a great selection of top brand art cards and a great range of
Christmas cards, boxed and singles for a wide variety of relatives and
friends.
We
also have a selection of beautiful gift stationery,
games, and our collection of quality jigsaws is
on sale now: these feature nostalgia themes that appeal to all ages.
We have a wide selection of local maps and guides for walking, driving
and otherwise enjoying Nerja and the surrounding area of the Axarquia as well as
the Alpujarras, Costa del Sol, Andalucía
and Spain.
If you wish
to give the gift of choice to someone, buy our gift vouchers.
SIGN up now for our store 
loyalty card. Save while you spend. It is an ideal way to save for books at
Christmas.
Read More
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A guide to the History & Traditions of the region.
by Hilary Gavilan
This labour of love by Alcaucín
based Hilary Gavilan is the first
English language guide dedicated to the history and folk customs of the the
southeastern corner of Málaga
province, the area in which we live. It is packed full of information and dates,
local festivals and revealing material drawn from interviews with Spanish locals
from the sierras and the costa. With good quality print and pictures to boot,
this is the book that anyone with an interest in local history has been waiting
for. Hopefully, it will inspire even more people to start off on their own
journeys of discovery to add to what is known about the rich tapestry of life
here down the millennia.
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Postal Address
Smiffs Book & Card Store
La Galeria
C/Almirante Ferrándiz 10
29780 Nerja
Málaga
Spain
Map of store location...
Telephone
Within Spain 952 52 3102
Outside Spain +34 952 52 3102
Email
General information:
info[at]booksaboutspain.es
(replace [at] with @ sign)
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READ OUR NEW BLOG
Click on the BLOG button on the left
side of this webpage to find our weblog.
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Dog Days In
Andalucía
by Jackie Todd
IT was love at first sight: the huge pale-green eyes, the ruffled tawny
hair and the cute way he held his head to one side.
What really swung it, though, was his feet being way too big for his
body, his ears too big for his head and that, while trying to look brave, he
was obviously terrified. Charly was the first of what grew to be a large
family of abandoned Spanish dogs taken in by the late Jackie Todd and her husband
Stephen after they emigrated in 1997 to Frigiliana, a picturesque white
pueblo in the Sierra Almijara above Nerja.
By the time Charly was four, something magical had happened: the people
of the village had become close friends and the Todds’ memories of their old
lives were as weak as British sunshine. Fourteen years on from that first
arrival they have ten dogs and eight cats of their own and regularly foster
tiny strays that need bottle-feeding until they can be found homes. In 2007,
123 puppies and kittens passed through their door; in 2008, it was 119; and,
the tragic procession continues today.
Millions of people dream of turning their summer holiday into permanent
reality. Dog Days in Andalucía is the heart-warming and inspirational story
of an ordinary British couple who did just that, making a mighty impression
on the village, its people and its surrounding animal population along the
way.
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No Pasarán!
THE Spanish
Civil War ended officially on April 1, 1939. For some
though, the war against Franco lasted a great deal longer, as told
to great effect in Between Two Fires, David Baird’s
magisterial account of the guerilla war against Franco that
lasted until 1952 in the mountains behind Nerja, Frigiliana, and
other villages of the Axarquia
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DEADLY SECRETS
by Robert Tenison
This Costa based thriller is a story of bribery, corruption, money laundering
and murder in Andalucia. Sound familiar? The action takes place in the
(fictional) coastal town of Los Cipreses (clearly inspired by La Herradura, near
Nerja) as well as in Granada, Madrid, London, the Cayman Islands and Seville.
Andy Montalvo arrives in the resort of Los Cipreses following the
unexpected death of his old friend Mike Cameron. As Andy looks into Mike's
death, he finds himself drawn into an investigation involving greed and
skulduggery by the beautiful but engimatic Cristina Ibañez. Together, Andy and
Cristina uncover more details about Mike’s death, as well as the money
laundering operation, but the body count rises before they finally establish the
truth. Robert Tenison was born of Spanish parents in the UK and spent fifteen
years as a commercial and investment banker, including a spell in the Cayman
Islands. On leaving banking he worked as a freelance business development
consultant until founding an online specialist recruitment company. For the last
seven years he has been living in Southern Spain where he has been working in
the property and financial services sector. Robert is currently working on his
second novel which will involve the investigation by the two main characters of
Deadly Secrets into blackmail, murder and the fraudulent use of Common
Agricultural Policy funds.
DON'T MISS THE FIESTA
by
David Baird
SEVENTY years after
Spain’s Civil War ended officially, 2009 has been a vintage year for works
of fiction set during the conflict or harking back to it. Mass
paperback releases of Mark Boling’s Guernica and Victoria Hislop’s The
Return have both featured high up in bestseller lists.
The list is now
extendedby Don’t Miss the Fiesta, a debut novel from David Baird, the
Frigiliana based journalist and author best known for his guide books, an
account of 30 years of change in his adopted village, and latterly for the
remarkable Between Two Fires, the story of the guerrilla war against
Franco waged in the mountains of the Axarquia until the 1950s.
This is a a chilling
tale of passion and vengeance set in the fictional mountain pueblo of
Benamargo, which is nominally in Granada province, but could be anywhere
in the sierras.
The main protagonist
is a starry eyed townie seeking rural tranquillity far from the madding
crowd of city life. But nasty surprises await him in a remote
village which, beneath its picture postcard perfection, is an emotional
minefield. The village harbours dark secrets and a nightmare of
guilt.
“The idea originated,”
says David, “with the experience of some friends. They bought a remote
farmhouse only to become embroiled in family feuds. Every place has
its own history. Here in Spain, recent history was very violent and
memories are long, so it’s easy for strangers to stumble into situations
they do not understand.”
Don’t Miss the Fiesta
was inspired by true-life incidents but David is at pains to insist: “The
characters in the book are all figments of the imagination and the village
of Benamargo does not exist.”
David has a high
reputation. Between Two Fires (see below) has sold like hot cakes in
both English and Spanish. But publishing fiction, which is more akin
to the fast moving fashion industry, is never easy, so Maroma Press
deserves praise for taking the plunge, particularly in these
penny-pinching times.
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DINNER FOR SIX AT 8:00
by Christopher Carnrick & Arthur Knighton
Our Price: 19,99 euros
while stocks last
LOCAL cooks, property managers, broadcasters and chaps about town, Christopher
Carnrick and Arthur Knighton are the creative duo behind this cookbook that
makes entertaining fun, easy and enjoyable.
If you adore cooking and entertaining friends for an
evening of fine dining, but you don't have the time, energy or money to host
elaborate, time-consuming social affairs, then this is for you.
Dinner for Six at 8:00 contains delectable dishes that are
sure to please the most sophisticated or simple palate. The mouth-watering
complete dinners are diverse, ranging from innovative international cuisine
found in the Caribbean, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Asia, Morocco, Polynesia
and Arabia to even the heartland of America!
The twelve themed dinners are the most popular from Casa
Cebadillas, the pair's unique dining experience in Torrox Pueblo.
All recipes are written to accommodate six guests with
readily available ingredients and are easy to prepare. The special-occasion and
ethnic themed dinner parties include complete menus, easy-to-follow recipes, and
dozens of ideas for invitations, decorations, table settings, music, and
beverages: everything you need to have a great party, except the guest list.
Christopher is the former owner of two Seattle, USA,
restaurants; Mame's Cabaret Dinner Theatre and Speedy Gonzales Mexican Cuisine
which received 4 stars from Gourmet Notebook, featured on N.W. Afternoon TV and
received accolades from the Seattle Times, Seattle Weekly, S.G.N. and Post
Intellingencer newspapers. Arthur Knighton shares nineteen years fine dining
experience serving customers from the Marriott Fine Dining and the famous
Seattle Pike Street Market. Christopher and Arthur also featured on HGTV, House
Hunters International Remain in Spain.
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DAUGHTERS OF SPAIN
by Joan Fallon
"I told them that it
was wrong; that I was the mother, but they wouldn't listen. How could they
put 'mother unknown', when I was standing there right in front of them?"
Jeannette
"We were just leaving the car park when an armed policeman stopped us and
pointed his gun into the car and told me to get out. He said I was not
allowed to leave the college in the company of a boy." Pilar
Daughters of Spain is a gripping account of the hard won changes within
society that the women of Spain have achieved, seen through the eyes and
experiences of the women themselves - mothers, daughters, grandmothers,
granddaughters.
From the beginning of the Civil War and Franco's dictatorship, through to the
socialist democracy it is today; from the 'Generation of 27' women in 1927, the
Second Republic which gave Spanish women the vote in the 1931 Constitution, and
the Falange founded by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the son of the right-wing
dictator, a modern country has emerged.
Using recorded first-hand interviews and authentic photographs, Joan Fallon
captures a vivid and unique picture of what life was really like for women over
the past seventy years, of the hardships they endured and their aspirations for
a more egalitarian future.
Nerja: Abundant Spring
Anna Kenning
has been a well-known and much loved figure on the local artistic scene for
decades. She and her husband, the watercolourist David, have seen at first hand
and over many decades the changes wrought by residential and seasonal tourism.
In Nerja: Abundant Spring,
Anna recalls in tender prose and delightfully produced watercolours, the time
that she spent in the town as a recently bereaved young widow in the late 1960s.
It was a time of healing, due in no small measure to the kindness and inclusive
community spirit that she encountered in a town that was still largely Spanish
and would not catch the tail of the mass tourism hurricane for another two
decades. The first edition of this collector’s item has a modest print run, so
would be well worth snapping up now.
EAST OF MáLAGA
Travel Guide
by David Baird
Those who inhabit the Axarquía - the
south-eastern triangle of Málaga – and neighbouring Granada’s Costa Tropical and
hinterland have always known that they live somewhere special.
“Spectacular coastal scenery, sleepy, whitewashed villages, dramatic
sierras…(they) have it all,” as the Frigiliana based journalist and writer David
Baird sums it up on the cover of his new book, East of Málaga.
This long-awaited, first-ever travel guide in English to these areas sprung from
our own suggestion that he should approach publishers Santana about the project,
so frustrated were local bookstores by the lack of a comprehensive guide book of
the quality that people familiar with AA, Rough Guide and Lonely Planet would
expect.
The result is that places such as Nerja, Frigiliana, Almuñécar, Cómpeta and
Vélez-Málaga are no longer just after-thoughts in guides to the Costa del Sol or
Andalucía.
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