rather than lose control of her. Style Grandes' literary work was influenced by 19th century Spanish writers Emilia Pardo Bazán and Benito Pérez Galdós, among others. Her books speak about the Spanish people in the last quarter of the 20th century and the first years of the 21st century, in a style characterized by realism and psychological introspection. When she was a child, her grandfather gave her Odyssey by Homer and she considered that, together with Don Quixote, they were the two major influences for her work and particularly for her interest in characters who were survivor archetypes, muddling through their circumstances one way or another, as opposed to heroes and antiheroes. Grandes was politically left-wing, and her work revolves around Francisco Franco's regime and the impact it had on democracy. Views and activism Grandes was a vocal leftist, saying that it was reading that led her to these politics. On several occasions she voted for the United Left party. She was a regular columnist of the newspaper El País and a contributor to radio programs such as Cadena SER. She also considered herself anticlerical and republican. In April 2007, Grandes was one of the signatories of a manifesto, in which a group of intellectuals considered it unacceptable to commit acts of terrorism; in addition, during the demonstration after ETA's attack on Madrid Airport, she read the statement "For peace, life, liberty and against terrorism." That attack, in which two people died, marked the end of a ceasefire during which ETA had been in negotiation with the government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Grandes also gave her opinion about Spanish society, which she argued had become dumb and vulgar, and blighted by consumerism, materialism, and indifference to suffering. In Los besos en el pan (2015), she wrote about the Spanish crisis of 2008 and claimed that humility was the only way to get rid of it. Grandes harshly criticized right-wing parties and politicians, and also left-wing ones, especially during the constitutional crisis in Catalonia. She was also involved in the feminist movement, and was present during feminist demonstrations and protests. She was also a tireless social activist. In 1998 she was a member of Izquierda Abierta and showed support for the self-incrimination of Ramona Maneiro. Maneiro had assisted her partner Ramón Sampedro in euthanasia. Personal life and death Grandes married poet Luis García Montero in 1994, with whom she had