Why a Booktrail?
1950s: Colm Tóibín’s first novel vividly evokes the Barcelona of the exile, as a young Irish woman starts a new life in the city.
The South
What you need to know before your trail
In 1950, Katherine Proctor leaves Ireland and everything she has ever known as she dreams of being a painter. Travelling to Barcelona, she meets Miguel, an anarchist veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and the two start a relationship.
However, Katherine’s past is lingering in the background and she is soon forced to examine everything she knows now and everything she left behind
Travel Guide
The book reads like a patchwork of one woman’s life as Katherine Proctor who leaves her family and apparent security for a dream she has of becoming a painter in Barcelona.
She meets Miguel who was involved with the Civil War and who still has links to it and they move to a beautiful house in the Pyrenees. However an Irish man – Michael grave also from her home town in Ireland causes problems and events back at home take on a whole new meaning.
The backdrop of the Spanish Civil war, the Irish troubles, Protestantism v. Catholicism and the rights of women in the 1950s all come into play and the theme of painting of the novel takes on several tones – of a woman painting her life and exploring the issues all around her.
The writing is as sparse as the Spanish desert – simple brush strokes building up a picture of Katherine’s life and two historical settings.
“It felt as though I had found the place I had been looking for: the sacred core of the world, a deserted square reached by two narrow alleyways, dimly lit, with a fountain, two trees, a church and some church buildings.”
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information:
Web: colmtoibin.com
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