Don Manuel — The Benefit

A novel by Antonio Valverde

The Benefit

What if the ground beneath your feet were hiding a secret no one was ever meant to find?

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Exclusive book launch of The Benefit by Antonio Valverde at La Nacional, New York

Wednesday, October 21, 2026 · 6:30–7:30 p.m. · La Nacional, New York

Exclusive book launch

The world premiere of The Benefit

Date
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Time
6:30–7:30 p.m.
Capacity
100 seats
Venue
La Nacional — Spanish Benevolent Society
Address
239 West 14th Street, Chelsea, Manhattan

Press release

On October 21, 2026, New York will host the official presentation of The Benefit (Spanish title La Pensión), the new novel by Granada-born Spanish author Antonio Valverde: a work that combines mystery, an international conspiracy, and a deep reflection on human vulnerability.

The event will take place at La Nacional — Spanish Benevolent Society, a cultural institution with more than 150 years of history, at 239 West 14th Street, Chelsea (Manhattan), between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The evening is scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

A novel that rises out of darkness to question reality

The Benefit will be available on Amazon and is also published in Spanish as La Pensión. It is a suffocating literary thriller, built with an enveloping narrative that leads the reader through a story mixing the most human instincts with the most implacable greed, in a world where nothing is what it seems.

Antonio Valverde constructs a tale that questions memory, identity, and the very notion of reality. Through characters who reflect both the warmest instincts and the most inhuman ones, the author shows how society can be shaped from glass offices, while ordinary people fight to keep hold of their truth amid forces that operate without a face and without scruples.

A presentation with a Spanish accent in the heart of Manhattan

The choice of La Nacional — Spanish Benevolent Society as the venue underscores the cultural bond between Spain and New York. Founded in 1868, La Nacional is a meeting place for the Hispanic community and a space devoted to literature, art, and Spanish identity in the United States. The presentation of La Pensión (the Spanish version of The Benefit) belongs to its literary program, which brings contemporary works by Spanish-language authors to New York audiences.

During the event, Antonio Valverde will speak with attendees about the novel’s creative process, the construction of its characters, and the inspiration behind its narrative universe. The conversation will also take up the English edition, The Benefit, which opens the work to a wider international readership.

Antonio Valverde: an author between business and literature

Born in Montefrío, a historic enclave in the province of Granada, Antonio Valverde Hidalgo has followed a singular path that joins literary sensibility with an entrepreneur’s vision. At 27 he founded his first company and, over time, built a business group that today employs more than 80 people.

His books include 20 Años Para Abrazarte, Miguel el Pescadero, La Gaviota Sin Ala, Pollito Arcoíris, and Escondido en mi libro — titles that have reached readers of many ages through a warm, close, deeply human style. His recurring themes — childhood, identity, loss, memory, and hope — reveal an intimate gaze on the human condition.

Valverde has also kept a constant social commitment. He served as secretary (2017–2018) and president (2018–2019) of the Rotary Club of Marbella, where he drove solidarity projects locally and internationally.

thebenefitbook.com · antoniovalverdelibros.com · lanacional.org

El próximo 21 de octubre de 2026, la ciudad de Nueva York será el escenario elegido para la presentación oficial de La Pensión, la nueva novela del autor español, de origen granadino, Antonio Valverde; una obra que combina misterio, una trama de conspiración internacional y una profunda reflexión sobre la vulnerabilidad humana.

El evento tendrá lugar en La Nacional – Asociación Española, institución cultural con más de 150 años de historia, situada en 239 West 14th Street, Chelsea (Manhattan), entre las avenidas Séptima y Octava. La cita está programada de 6:30 p.m. a 7:30 p.m.

Una obra que emerge desde la oscuridad para cuestionar la realidad

La Pensión estará disponible en Amazon y será publicada también en inglés bajo el título The Benefit. Se presenta como un thriller literario asfixiante, construido con una narrativa envolvente que lleva al lector a través de una historia que mezcla lo más humano con la codicia más implacable, en un mundo en el que nada es lo que parece.

Antonio Valverde construye un relato que cuestiona la memoria, la identidad y la propia noción de realidad. A través de personajes que son el reflejo de los instintos más cálidos y también de los más inhumanos, el autor muestra cómo la sociedad puede ser moldeada desde despachos de cristal, mientras los individuos comunes luchan por conservar su verdad en medio de fuerzas que operan sin rostro y sin escrúpulos.

Una presentación con acento español en el corazón de Manhattan

La elección de La Nacional – Asociación Española como sede del evento subraya el vínculo cultural entre España y Nueva York. Fundada en 1868, La Nacional es un punto de encuentro para la comunidad hispana y un espacio dedicado a la promoción de la literatura, el arte y la identidad española en Estados Unidos. La presentación de La Pensión (versión en español de su obra The Benefit) se enmarca en su programación literaria, que busca acercar al público neoyorquino obras contemporáneas de autores hispanohablantes.

Durante el acto, Antonio Valverde conversará con los asistentes sobre el proceso creativo de la novela, la construcción de sus personajes y la inspiración detrás de su universo narrativo. También se abordará la versión inglesa de la obra, The Benefit, que abre la puerta a un público internacional más amplio.

Antonio Valverde: un autor que transita entre la empresa y la literatura

Nacido en Montefrío, un enclave histórico de la provincia de Granada, Antonio Valverde Hidalgo ha desarrollado una trayectoria singular que combina la sensibilidad literaria con la visión del emprendedor. A los 27 años fundó su primera empresa y, con el tiempo, consolidó un grupo empresarial que hoy emplea a más de 80 personas.

Su obra literaria incluye títulos como 20 Años Para Abrazarte, Miguel el Pescadero, La Gaviota Sin Ala, Pollito Arcoíris y Escondido en mi libro, libros que han conectado con lectores de distintas edades gracias a un estilo cálido, cercano y profundamente humano. Sus temas recurrentes —la infancia, la identidad, la pérdida, la memoria y la esperanza— revelan una mirada íntima hacia la condición humana.

Además, Valverde ha mantenido un compromiso social constante. Fue secretario (2017–2018) y presidente (2018–2019) del Rotary Club de Marbella, desde donde impulsó proyectos solidarios tanto a nivel local como internacional.

thebenefitbook.com · antoniovalverdelibros.com · lanacional.org

Chapter One

At La Almudena Cemetery, death is meant to be the final rest.

But for Don Manuel, waking up in the suffocating darkness of his own coffin is only the beginning of a reality he cannot begin to understand.

What if the end of a life isn't a twist of fate, but a sentence handed down from the shadows? Forced to become a ghost without a name to protect the people he loves, Don Manuel uncovers a clandestine underworld where the forgotten are quietly waiting for the moment to strike back.

While he watches the world from the exile of the resurrected, his granddaughter Raquel — a brilliant, sharp-tongued young lawyer — senses that the official story of his death is full of cracks no one wants to explain.

Raquel investigating

Raquel

«Every clue pulls her closer to the abyss.»

The Players

Every face is a piece of evidence.

Raquel

Unfinished proof

Raquel

The granddaughter who refuses to believe the official story.

Death was meant to be the final rest.

Booktrailer

Watch the trailer

A descent into the world of The Benefit.

The Object

Hold it in your hands.

A suffocating, masterfully crafted thriller that lays bare the fragility of our society and the cold cruelty of those pulling the strings from behind glass walls.

Hover or scroll to turn the book.

From the Novel

An Excerpt

“On a chessboard where everyone is deemed expendable, those who have nothing left to lose are gearing up to strike back.”

— The Benefit, Antonio Valverde

Antonio Valverde

Portrait

Antonio Valverde

The Author

Antonio Valverde

There are lives that follow a single path. Mine has preferred to travel many. Yet all of them have been bound by the same thread: an inexhaustible curiosity and an imagination that has never stopped asking questions.

From childhood I discovered that imagination could take me much further than any journey. While others gazed at a sky full of stars, I imagined the worlds that might lie hidden behind them. That fascination grew even more intense the night humankind reached the Moon. Like millions of people, I stayed awake following that historic event. Without knowing it, that night planted the seed of many of the stories I would write decades later.

Very young I started a family with my wife, and our three children arrived. I soon understood that the future is not awaited: it is built. I studied International Taxation at the University of Málaga and founded my own professional firm, where for years I advised companies and individuals.

I have always believed that every new challenge deserves new preparation. That conviction led me to complete a three-year master's degree in Management of Real Estate Development and Construction Companies at the University of Málaga before beginning my career as a property developer. Those studies not only expanded my knowledge; they reinforced a philosophy that has guided my whole life: never stop learning.

Together with my wife, a project designer, I founded a real estate development firm with which we carried out large-scale works, even working for members of the royal family of Abu Dhabi and taking part in projects in one of their palaces in Zürich. That experience taught me that constructing a building and writing a novel share the same origin: both are first born in the imagination.

Commitment to society has also been part of my journey. As a member of the Rotary Club Marbella I served as secretary during 2018 and 2019 and as president in the 2019–2020 term. There I confirmed that leadership only has meaning when it is placed at the service of others.

The economic crisis of 2008 marked the beginning of a new stage. I decided to reinvent myself and create a business project linked to sport that, over the years, has grown into an organization that today provides employment for more than one hundred people.

But while my professional life evolved, one thing never changed: I kept writing.

Literature did not come into my life; it had always been there. I began by publishing children's books, perhaps because I never stopped looking at the world with the eyes of that boy who dreamed wide awake. Later I felt the need to explore the genre that best answered the questions that had accompanied me since childhood: science fiction.

That is how Escondido en mi libro was born. Then came Algor, a novel that allowed me to travel, alongside its characters, toward some of humanity's great questions. Later I wrote Benéfico, an intense and deeply human work that confronted me with a reality as painful as it is unsettling. Each book has been different, but all of them have been born from the same need: to better understand the human being and to share with the reader what imagination is capable of revealing.

Today I continue to write, convinced that the best stories not only entertain; they also awaken questions.

Right now I am facing one of the greatest challenges of my literary career: presenting in New York the novel I will publish this September. I do not see that journey as a goal, but as the beginning of a new adventure. My greatest hope is that my stories cross borders, find readers anywhere in the world, and move them.

In parallel, I continue developing new literary and audiovisual projects with the hope of seeing some of my stories adapted for film and television.

After so many years I have come to understand that all the stages of my life — business, construction, sport, service to the community and literature — are not separate paths, but chapters of the same story.

Because I still believe the same thing as that boy who looked up at the stars: that knowledge helps us understand the world, but it is imagination that allows us to discover the worlds that do not yet exist.

Marbella, June 28, 2026

Available now

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Available in hardcover, paperback, eBook and audiobook.