BARCELONA DAYS (2020)
Barcelona Days is the story of Will and Whitney, two 29-year-olds who’ve been with one another since the end of college. They live together in New York City, their lives seemingly flourishing. But when Will proposes to Whitney, there’s something she’s uncertain about. Their solution is to give each other three free passes during a month of living apart—at the end of which they’ll go on vacation and confess their affairs. On the final night of their trip to Barcelona, they go out for a nice dinner and come clean. Despite destroying one another, they feel stronger for it, still deeply in love, and ready to get home and on with living the rest of their life together.
But overnight, an ashcloud from an Icelandic volcano settles in over Europe, trapping the couple for as long as flights are grounded. In this state of purgatory, Will and Whitney meet another pair of Americans whose own dynamic adds to and complicates their own. The pair becomes a quartet, re-shaping itself over several days, as the four Americans in Barcelona reveal themselves to one another, tempt one another, infuriate one another, test the stress points of each relationship, pair and re-pair, and ultimately build their Barcelona days to a series of shocking crescendos.
Barcelona Days is a raw, sexy, psychological modern romance, a love letter to the Catalan capital, and a new entry onto the shelf of fiction about Americans in Europe.
A NEW YORK POST “BEST BOOK OF 2020”
“Reading it felt like watching a movie about good friends from college having a life-changing few days in a beautiful city. Dan has such a gift for capturing everything both clever and mundane in his scenes and dialogue.”
“From beginning to end, the reader walks with Whitney and Will along the precipice marking an edge they may or may not have crossed. With dry humor and involving dialogue, Riley steps boldly into territory other authors have only tentatively approached.”
“Come for the couple drama, stay for the descriptions that will make you feel like you’re in Spain.”
“A funny, strange, propulsive novel, pleasurable from start to finish.”