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1930s, 2000s: A story about Granada during the Spanish Republic, the Civil War and the ensuing years. A powerful narrative which stirs the emotions and never lets go.
1930s, 2000s: A story about Granada during the Spanish Republic, the Civil War and the ensuing years. A powerful narrative which stirs the emotions and never lets go.
Beneath the majestic towers of the Alhambra, Granada’s cobbled streets resonate with music and secrets.
Sonia Cameron however is oblivious for these secrets for all she is there for is to dance. But one day, a chance chance conversation and an intriguing collection of old photographs draw her into the extraordinary tale of Spain’s devastating civil war.
Seventy years earlier, the café is home to the close-knit Ramírez family. And then in 1936, an army coup led by Franco shatters the country’s fragile peace….
Beneath the majestic towers of the Alhambra, Granada’s cobbled streets resonate with music and secrets….
The town is a maze of white washed buildings, the Albacin in particular a legacy from its Moorish past and a city and its people devastated by war and civil war at that.
As Sonia visits Granada and travels around, it offers her glimpse of her past and heritage. The war is heard on the streets and in the shadows, as one family in particular come to life and the real human face of the Civil war in revealed. Granada might seem small and unassuming but war devastated people here, scarring them and the landscape. They were at war with themselves as they took different sides in the war outside. Tensions and chaos reign both outside and in.
In addition to the war background, the spectacle of flamenco dancing comes beautifully to life. “ There was nothing basic about Flamenco, it had a culture all of its own” The colourful, vibrancy of the dance, the passion, the noise of the foot stomping and clapping – you can almost hear it for yourself.
Susan @thebooktrailer
Fascinating on many levels. Maybe more so since I lived in Granada as a student and so was very familiar with a lot of the feelings and emotions in the book but the mix of past and present, the flamenco -(which you just have to see in Spain as it’s amazing done by professionals) – and the Civil War, Victoria never fails to amaze and surprise me. I always feel as if I’ve really learned something too but by no means is this a history lesson. Rather an insight into the people and their emotions. A special read indeed.
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