A Simple Fable (Una fábula sencilla)

A summer in Barcelona, a group of friends, and one fatal mistake that plunges them into the heart of international drug trafficking.

Gabriel, an Argentine living in Barcelona, watches his world fall apart over the course of a single summer. First, he loses Mariela, his partner, and shortly afterward he is fired from the real estate agency where he worked. Aimless and broke, he finds refuge among a group of friends who are as lovable as they are chaotic: Mario, a Uruguayan who raises a pig each year for an annual barbecue; Lautaro and Betty, a Chilean couple struggling to keep their florist shop afloat while expecting a child; Jimmy, a mysterious Cuban with ties to drug trafficking; and Pep, heir to an influential Catalan family.

Beneath the veneer of friendship, however, lies a criminal network. Lautaro secretly works for Albanian traffickers, opening the warehouses owned by the Vila family—Pep’s powerful relatives—one night a week to extract cocaine hidden inside containers arriving at the port. The Vila business serves as a front for a Mexican cartel, while the Albanians operate as local distributors. At the same time, Jimmy and Tano, an old friend of the group now based in Marseille, oversee the routes through which drugs move between Barcelona and France. When a shipment destined for Barcelona is diverted to Marseille, the fragile balance collapses, triggering kidnappings, threats, and a silent war among the different criminal factions.

Driven by financial desperation and growing disillusionment, Gabriel and Lautaro make a disastrous decision. Taking advantage of the corruption of Sergeant Tete Sáenz, they steal a shipment of cocaine from the port. The drugs are hidden in Jimmy’s Audi, with Jimmy acting as intermediary in the operation. Their attempt to sell the haul soon fails: “El Ruc,” the dealer set to buy it, is murdered by the Albanians, and the car disappears. Days later, it reappears carrying a chilling message: a chessboard and Jimmy’s severed little finger. Bujar, the Albanian boss, has marked them.

Yet Bujar has no intention of killing them. The stolen cocaine is insignificant compared to the larger issue of the missing container. Gabriel and Lautaro are more valuable alive because they represent the fastest way to locate Jimmy and Tano and resolve the dispute. Once Jimmy is found and kidnapped, only Tano remains.

The story reaches its climax during the traditional end-of-summer barbecue held at the Vila family’s Costa Brava estate. What should have been a celebration among friends turns into a violent collision of competing interests: Gabriel and his companions; cartel gunmen holding Pep’s father hostage; the Albanians hunting for Tano; and finally Tano himself, arriving from Marseille hoping to negotiate the return of the container in exchange for Jimmy—unaware that Jimmy has already been dead for days.

The standoff erupts into bloodshed. Mario is killed, Bujar bleeds to death, and the survivors flee in different directions.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Gabriel reaches rock bottom. Back in Barcelona, he learns that Betty has given birth and that Lautaro has abandoned criminal life to focus on his family. Gabriel, however, remains trapped in a state of alienation, struggling to come to terms with the violence he has witnessed and his role in it. The novel closes with him reflecting on friendship, betrayal, and the search for identity in an uncertain future.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Matías Néspolo is an Argentine journalist and writer based in Barcelona. In 2010, he was selected by Granta as one of the Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists.

A Simple Fable is a fast-paced novel that combines intimate character drama with a gripping criminal plot. Set in a hostile and unforgiving Barcelona, the story unfolds as an ensemble portrait in which each character embodies forms of displacement, economic hardship, and the search for belonging. Structured through short, dynamic chapters, the narrative steadily escalates in tension and scope, making it particularly well suited for adaptation as a contemporary, high-energy thriller.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Film, TV Movie

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.