Beneath the horror surface lies a buried history of the Spanish Civil War. The "Empty Houses" are empty because their inhabitants were shot, fled, or were silenced. Uclés weaves a subtle critique of Spain’s Ley de Memoria Histórica without ever becoming a history textbook.
The "empty houses" are not a setting; they are the protagonist. Every broken window and overgrown patio is a character screaming about the 1960s migration to Barcelona and Madrid. Uclés argues that the houses remember, even when the people forget. La Peninsula De Las Casas Vacia David Ucles Epub