Carolina Purpurina

In this book, which shines with a light of its own, love takes centre stage: the love of a sister for a girl with a rare disease called leukodystrophy, which keeps her from many things but allows her a great many more.

That is what this love made of words is about: telling what can be done, keeping a positive outlook on everything still to be achieved, and honouring the effort families make so that these children, whose lives are so singular, can have as ordinary a childhood as possible — with respect for their differences and for what makes them unique.

Isabel, with admirable precocity, shows us the many colours that can unfold around a story which, far from being sad or disheartening, is full of light and hope, of new paths and adventures waiting to be discovered. 

I think the character always existed inside me, even before I wrote down a single syllable. Carolina Purpurina is a book inspired by my older sister, a girl with a disability — but this is not only a story about disability, it is a story about ability, a universal tale for children and grown-ups alike. We all carry a Carolina Purpurina inside us. We have our ups and downs and our hard moments, but with a positive, fighting spirit — here embodied in the magic of a handful of glitter — we always come through, and life can still be enjoyed.

Carolina Purpurina was first born in the stories and essays that Elena and Josetxu set me as homework at COAMI, my school. Whatever subject the teacher suggested, the plot always ended up starring a girl with different abilities. At first she appeared under another made-up name. As the character grew and came to resemble my sister more and more, I decided to give her the nickname we use at home — Carolina Purpurina — because of her love of everything that sparkles.

In June 2023 I adapted one of the texts into English to enter the Milton Little Writers competition. The story won, and an extract from Carolina Purpurina was published for the first time. In December of the same year, the Christmas version of the book won first prize in the story competition run by FECOSVA. The book was displayed, sentence by sentence, in the shop windows of one of the best-known shopping streets in Valladolid. In March 2024, Carolina Purpurina won the short story prize for International Women’s Day in Madrid.

After these wins came the chance to publish a book gathering the adventures of a very special heroine in a wheelchair, called Carolina Purpurina.

I hope you enjoy the book — and remember, as Carolina says: “if we put a handful of glitter in the palm of our hand and blow, our troubles fly away and vanish into the air, just like glitter…”.