O lapis do carpinteiro é unha historia de amor, melancolía e liberdade, en tempo de guerra e posguerra, que chega ós nosos días. Un grande amor entre Marisa Mallo, unha fermosa moza da Fronteira, filla dunha familia de ambiente reaccionario e o médico republicano Daniel Da Barca, posuidor da beleza tísica e seguidor da teoría da realidad intelixente do doutor Nóvoa Santos. Fronte a eles a mirada escrutadora dun home que non tiña medo, Herbal, o garda da cadea da Falcona que verá restaurada a súa condición de ser humano por obra e gracia de tantas formas de amor como o lapis do carpinteiro lle foi ensinando a debuxar. O lapis do carpinteiro é o testemuño dunha traxedia curativa, unha metáfora de tódalas guerras, unha loita contra o esquecemento que demostra o poder salvífico do amor. Esta excepcional novela ficará no lector gravada coma un engrama, coma o sulco dunha cicatriz que rescata o mellor da nosa memoria.
Manuel Rivas Barrós (born 24 October 1957 in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain) is a Galician writer, poet and journalist.
Manuel Rivas Barrós began his writing career at the age of 15. He has written articles and literature essays for Spanish newspapers and television stations like Televisión de Galicia, El Ideal Gallego, La Voz de Galicia, El País, and was the sub-editor of Diario 16 in Galicia. He was a founding member of Greenpeace Spain, and played an important role during the 2002 Prestige oil spill near the Galician coast.
As of 2017, Rivas has published 9 anthologies of poetry, 14 novels and several literature essays. He is considered a revolutionary in contemporary Galician literature. His 1996 book "Que me queres, amor?", a series of sixteen short stories, was adapted by director José Luis Cuerda for his film "A lingua das bolboretas" ("Butterfly's Tongue"). His 1998 novel "O lápis do carpinteiro" ("The Carpenter's Pencil") has been published in nine countries and it is the most widely translated work in the history of Galician literature. It also was adapted to cinema as "O Lápis do Carpinteiro".