María Cuadrado, from Top Score in the EBAU to Being Signed by a Major Publisher at 21 Years Old

She doesn't seek to draw attention, but inevitably she does. In high school, she was moved up a grade, and about that, she says, "you never get over it": "You are always the gifted child." When transitioning to university, she thought about not revealing her age to avoid suspicion, but then she scored a 14 on the selectivity exam (EBAU), the highest score. And she appeared in newspapers, on television, on the radio... "Everywhere, everyone knew who I was." Four years later, she completed her degree in Translation and Interpretation at the University of Malaga with 27 honors and an average grade of 9.65. While studying, she wrote incessantly. At 21, María Cuadrado has published five books, the latest with Suma, a Penguin Random House imprint, her gateway to the circuit of major publishers. "I understand that my age draws attention and that's fine, but I would prefer to be judged more by my trajectory than by that," she requests.

The young woman from Malaga makes her debut in the thriller genre with the novel '186 Days', "a murky love story with concealment of a corpse," she defines it. The plot follows Aria Mérida during the 186 days leading up to her trial for homicide. This book comes after two other novels in English (one self-published on Amazon when she was just 15 years old), a collection of poems, and a book of prose poetry published by Valparaíso.

The Book

• Title '186 Days'.

• Author María Cuadrado.

• Publisher Suma (Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial).

• Pages 382.

A top ten publisher rejected this last work, but encouraged her to send the next fiction piece she wrote, without that poetic touch. That's when she began to develop this story. As soon as she had it, she sent it to several publishers and a week later, on the same day, she received a 'yes' from Planeta and Penguin. But the offer from the latter was hard to refuse: in addition to taking the thriller, they bought the next one she would write. "And they set a delivery date and publication date for a novel that didn't yet exist," she says still with a sense of disbelief.

María Cuadrado is highly capable and people tend to think that all this is much easier for her than for anyone else. But behind her achievements, there is "a lot, a lot of effort." "I always say that I am more hardworking than intelligent." She mentions that during her university years she had no weekends or vacation periods. Whenever she had a break from university, she immersed herself in the writing process. During the four years of her degree, she had three literary launches. "It really was about not resting, always getting up early, and with anxieties," she assures.

Defines her novel, published by Penguin Random House, as "a murky love story with concealment of a corpse"

She lives subscribed to "multitasking." "Even on the treadmill at the gym I'm reading," she claims. This explains her average of reading 50 books a year, many of them in English. "Because reading is much more important than writing," she defends. From a young age, she knew she wanted to be a writer and trained with courses in narrative writing and character development. At 15, she self-published her first novel in English, "which isn't super good, but it was fine for being 15 years old." And she has never stopped inventing plots and subplots, many of which still wait for their moment in a drawer at her home.

English was her first literary language, more out of shyness than anything else. In everything she writes, there is something of her, and she wanted to avoid uncomfortable questions. Expressing herself in another language served as armor. "I guess it's also adolescence, which is a complicated time." And hers was not easy. Now she can talk about it naturally and calmly, but María Cuadrado suffered bullying in school. And skipping a grade in high school due to her high abilities didn't help either. "They think you're Sheldon Cooper. They think you only like going to museums, that you don't like having a beer," she laments. She rebuts those who say that very intelligent people don't have social skills: "No, sorry, they lack opportunities to develop their social skills because of people like you, who don't provide them."

That situation led her to spend a lot of time alone, "and there I read a lot and found my vocation in silence." "In the end, you come out stronger, you learn tough life lessons, but then other things scare you less. If I had been invited to all the plans, maybe I wouldn't have started writing and wouldn't be where I am now. And I wouldn't change it," she reflects.

The young woman has completed her degree in Translation and Interpretation with 27 honors and reads about 50 books a year

She embraces the maxim of "write what you know," and thus Aria, the protagonist of her novel, shares many of her qualities. She is a young writer with curly hair who also feels marginalized for having high abilities, writes in English, and suffers from creative block. "And I was experiencing it at that time. Curiously, writing about it helped me get out of it." The events also take place in very recognizable locations in Malaga, in the city center, La Laguna Park in Teatinos, or in the City of Justice.

"But that's where the similarities end. I've never killed anyone," she clarifies with a laugh. She does this to "empathize" with her character at first, but then she lets her fly. Aria struggles with mental health issues, disorders, and a tendency towards depression. A situation that leads her to be swept away by Cain. "'186 Days' is an example of the worst that could happen. Because you can have high abilities and be bullied and end up publishing with Penguin; or you could end up in pre-trial detention," she summarizes with a laugh.