Cr nica del alba, is the first in an autobiographical series of nine novels by one of the most famous twentieth- century Spanish novelists, Ram n Sender. The novel recounts the very funny adventures of a rebellious ten-year-old and has an immediate appeal to readers of all ages. However, the narrative frame of the Spanish Civil War points to more depth and the major events of twentieth century Spanish history. The critical introduction places the author and the novel in the context of the Spanish Civil War, the Franco regime, the literature of exile and censorship and shows how they interrelate. It suggests that the situation of the disillusioned adult narrator, a Civil War refugee in a detention camp in southern France, configures how he writes and affects our reading of his account of a relatively happy childhood. Furthermore, the introduction draws attention to the similarities and differences between the life of the narrator and that of the author who was writing the novel in 1942 in Mexico, concluding that Sender selectively fictionalises aspects of his own childhood to explore the feelings of sadness and loss arising from the defeat of the Republic and his own enforced exile; writing helps him adjust to powerful and destructive personal experiences.The edition will be of interest to students with a reading knowledge of Spanish, undergraduates studying the literature and/or history of Spain; students of the literature of exile and those taking thematic courses on history and fiction or autobiography and fiction.