Banned for many years by the Franco regime, Cela's masterpiece presents a panoramic view of the degredation and suffering of the lower-middle class in post-Civil War Spain. Readers are introduced to over a hundred characters through a series of starkly rendered interlocking vignettes, transforming this book from a social document into a towering work of inventive fiction. Filled with violence, hunger, and compassion, The Hive captures the ambitions and constraints of life under a dictatorship.