Book Synopsis:
A portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship.
Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother's birth through the lens of his camera. Photography--and fate--introduce him to Ana, whose family's interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War--as well as chilling definitions of fortune and fear. Daniel's photographs leave him with uncomfortable questions amidst shadows of danger. He is backed into a corner of difficult decisions to protect those he loves. Lives and hearts collide, revealing an incredibly dark side to the sunny Spanish city.
My Review:
5/5 stars. Once again, Ruta Sepetys delivers an engaging, mysterious, heartbreaking page-turner of a novel, full of characters to love and hate. She knows how to weave separate stories together so perfectly, in a way that all makes sense in the end. This book was no exception. I fell in love with the characters and everything they were going through. The ending was satisfying enough to not leave me frustrated but still left a lot of questions unanswered.
Something Sepetys is so good at is making you so invested and intrigued by only revealing nuggets of information gradually. With multiple characters, there were small hints about things happening in their plot, leaving you with so many questions you just have to keep reading to find out. This also happened very early on, so there was a mystery right from the start.
Similarly, this book had so many twists and turns. You think the plot is going one way, but then something new is revealed. There were a lot of great cliff-hanger chapter endings, which only added to how much of a page-turner it was.
As always with Sepetys' books, I loved the characters. I got attached to all of them and wanted the best for them. The banter between Daniel and Ana was great and I really rooted for them. Conversely, there was a character I despised, which was the intention. She was a very well-written antagonist.
The ending of this book is not a happy, tied up with a bow, conclusion. A lot of things go wrong. But it's also not completely dark and disappointing. There is enough good resolution to be satisfying, but I want more! I want to keep reading about the characters, especially after a big reveal toward the end.
Content:
Language: God's name taken in vain, h*ll, b*stard, a**, p*ssed
Sexual Content: Kissing, a character who is a womanizer
Violence/Gore: Descriptions of dead bodies (including babies), blood, amputated body parts, shooting, mentions of people's organs coming out from bullfights
Drugs/Alcohol: None
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