May 17, 2013

The Song of the Eight Winds – a Review Peter Kerr is best known for his quartet of humorous travel books set in Mallorca as well as the Bob Burns comical crime series, a novel and an early memoir. However, in this epic tale, he has now turned his consummate writing skills to an important period in medieval Spanish history, the reconquest of the country...

May 5, 2013

“My Spanish Interlude” – Anna Maria O’Donovan When this book was first introduced to me, I had not read the description – and was told it was a romantic story. Then before I actually picked it up, I was told it was a thriller. What this book actually proved itself to be… was both of those. The tale centres around a young woman named Sylvia, who...

Mar 7, 2013

The Return by Victoria Hislop   Review by Molly Sears-Piccavey This book had been recommended to me by several people who love Spain. This was written  I expected a light romantic novel set in Granada, Spain. As I live in Granada this was of particular interest to me as the novel begins in the city. The beginning of the book, (up to page 100) starts off...

Mar 4, 2013

The Infatuations by Javier Marías – 2 reviews Is there such as thing as chance, asks Javier Marías’s masterly new novel Review by Alberto Manguel of  The Guardian, Friday 1 March 2013 The strict sequence of events that makes up our lives seems to us, as it takes place, haphazard. A chance encounter, a sudden death, love at first sight, an...

Jan 25, 2013

The Queen’s Vow by C.W. Gortner Review by Belinda Beckett www.belindabeckett.com What can you remember from school about The Catholic Monarchs?  If your answer is Monty Python’s Flying Circus’s “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” sketch then join the club – this was my favourite Python sketch and the main source of my own...

Jan 13, 2013

“Blood in the Valencian Soil” by Caroline Angus Baker Review by Malcolm Cliff “This isn’t fate. This is real life. These are our own mistakes. We can’t blame some magic higher power. It’s not fate, or a curse … coincidence maybe. We all live and die by our own sword.” This was part of a dialogue between the two main characters in “Blood in the...

The Seamstress by Maria Duenas Review by Kirsty Hooper http://booksonspain.wordpress.com/ Madrid, 1936. The young seamstress Sira Quiroga ekes out a living with her single mother. Poor and frustrated, her only chance of escape is to pass the civil service exams and become a typist. When Ramiro, a dashing typewriter salesman, erupts into her life with promises...

Nov 30, 2012

Review of Hand of Fatima by Ildefonso Falcones Review by Molly Sears-Piccavey I had already read the magnificent novel Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones, therefore it was a natural progression for me to read this latest book as well. I was actually lucky enough to go to a Spanish wedding in summer 2004 which took place in Santa Maria del Mar which is...