En la zona montañosa de Valencia, una casa olvidada guarda sus secretos. Abandonada desde que las tropas de Franco arrasaron España en 1936, sus paredes se han desmoronado y el jardín ha sido invadido por la maleza. Guiada por una serie de cartas y una llave que su madre le ha dejado en herencia, Emma Temple abandona su trabajo como perfumista en Londres para devolver su antiguo esplendor a la ahora ruinosa casa de campo. A medida que esta va revelando sus secretos, Emma se sumerge cada vez más en la historia de su abuela, una enfermera británica que pasó la Guerra Civil en España como voluntaria. Pronto comprende que una cosa es querer dejar atrás el pasado y otra muy distinta que este te lo permita.

Enjoyed the imagery of Spain and about the war between Spain and France. Vivid explanations of details. I actually read it in the Bahamas in January of 2017 but we used it for our bookclub book for April 2017 for Jenny wood bookclub ( )

This was a very lovely story, set in altering timeline between 1930s Spain and the months following 9/11. Emma Temple has recently lost her mother, her career as a creator of perfume is in question after her company is sold, and the man who fathered her pregnancy died in the World Trade Center. Seeking a change, she goes to the old house in Spain her mother had purchased, in hopes of restoring the home and creating a new family and career. As it turns out, her family has history in Spain and the town of Valencia is filled with old family friends who were witnesses to the brutal Spanish Civil War and carry secrets still important to Emma. Good reading overall. ( )

An interesting drama set in the Spanish Civil War and the present day UK/Spain. Emma moves to Valencia and a villa left to her by her mother is the present day story and in the past Freya, Emma's Grandmother and Charles, her Uncle are in Spain as young people.
Emma is a perfumier and has left a well-known business in the UK to move to Spain and have a baby.
The two stories unfold simultaneously. ( )

Good in parts.

Although this book opens brilliantly with a scene between the two famous war reporters that made up Robert Capa, it quickly degenerated to something rather mediocre, with chapters that were too short to really get the feel of the characters. With each chapter ending we switched again, either back to the Spanish Civil war of the 1930s, or forward to the modern day, 2001.
The historical section was fascinating and I learned a lot, but I felt that the 2001 thread was merely a tool by which to reveal the events of the past. I would have loved to have had the book set entierly in the 1930s. The descriptions of the refugees streaming into France, the fate of the Spanish children and the Brigades of foreign nationals fighting for a cause were excellent.

Two characters link the past and the present - Freya, a volunteer nurse, and her brother, Charles, who has joined with the Republicans as a journalist, hoping to let the world know about the atrocities.
In the current time period, Freya is Emma's grandmother and Charles, her Uncle.
Liberty, Emma's mother has recently died and left her daughter the key to a villa in Valencia, Spain, and a box of letters. Emma is also suffering a second loss and hopes that a move to Spain might help her 'find herself' again.
This modern day section was markedly weaker. I didn't get the feel of Emma as an outsider, nor did I sense that she and the Spanish villages were speaking a different language. How did Emma come to be so fluent in the language that there were no misunderstandings? This was topped with a finale that was quite unbelievable and let the book down with a crash. Even the house didn't feel like the same place, in 2001 it seemed to be a mansion of rooms, yet during war it felt more homely and cramped.

I have scored this 3 1/2 stars as I did enjoy parts of it and I learned about a period of history that I had not read about before, but I would not particularly recommend it. ( )