When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he was sent with his siblings to Cuenca, only returning to Madrid in 1937 where he lived with his maternal grandparents.
Throughout his life, he dedicated himself to writing with fervour and discipline without abandoning his administrative job in Madrid.
He won the Premio Biblioteca Breve in 1959 for his novel Nuevas amistades,[1] followed by the Prix Formentor for Tormenta de verano (translated into English by Ilsa Barea as Summer Storm.)
His work belongs to the social realist movement pursued by some Spanish writers of the 1950s.
His 1972 book El gran momento de Mary Tribune became his biggest commercial success.