The Time in Between in Retro Chapter Chicks

Aug 13, 2018 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: africa, espionage, book-club, historical-fiction, spain, latino-literature, concierge, strong-women, world-war-ii, library

A sweeping historical novel featuring the young Sira Quiroga, who begins by cleaning the floors of the atelier where her mother is a seamstress and ends up as a sought-after fashion designer in World War II. Using her skills as a dressmaker to connect with the high society ladies, she ferrets out Nazi secrets and passes that information on to the British via Morse code embedded in dress patterns.

Wow … what a fascinating and engaging read. This is Dueñas’s debut work, but it sure reads like the A sweeping historical novel featuring the young Sira Quiroga, who begins by cleaning the floors of the atelier where her mother is a seamstress and ends up as a sought-after fashion designer in World War II. Using her skills as a dressmaker to connect with the high society ladies, she ferrets out Nazi secrets and passes that information on to the British via Morse code embedded in dress patterns.

Wow … what a fascinating and engaging read. This is Dueñas’s debut work, but it sure reads like the work of an accomplished storyteller. The novel starts off slowly and I was pretty disappointed in the young Sira and the poor choices she made with respect to men. But once she was forced to make her own way (abandoned and penniless in Morocco of all places), the story really picked up.

I loved the way that she grew as a character, coming into her own while carefully observing and learning from her friends, neighbors and clients. Her relationships are wonderfully complex – from the police inspector, to her landlady, to her neighbor and friend, Felix, to the glamorous Rosalinda Fox, and her stoic mother.

I’ve read many novels set in WW2 but only one previous one set in Spain (Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls). What sets this apart is that is mostly deals with the “women left behind.” The ways in which women and men who were not at the forefront of the fighting dealt with the ramifications of the wars, both the Spanish Civil War and WW2. Dueñas fills the novel with details of life “at home” during this time frame: in Madrid, Morocco and Lisbon. The shortages, the black market, the unusual alliances.

Of course, there are real-life people in the book; you cannot set a novel at this place and during this time frame and completely avoid mentioning Hitler or Franco. But I was surprised to discover that Rosalinda Fox was a real woman. Sira is a totally fictitious character, but Dueñas inserts her into the history of the time in a way that is believable.

I understand that there is a Spanish telenovela (soap opera / mini-series) available on Netflix (with subtitles). One of my friends commented that she was hooked on it and loved the ending when Sira (view spoiler). Once I told her that the soap opera ending is barely at the half-way point in the novel, she set out to get the book.

I recommend this to anyone who loves a fast-paced novel, with fascinating characters, and a strong female lead. The final scene when she decides to take matters into her own hands and go forward on her own terms is marvelous. I wanted to stand up and cheer!
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Oct 04, 2023 Theresa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: women-s-history, needlework-textile-and-craft, coming-of-age, history, historical-fiction, debut, africa

This is a wonderful story about a young seamstress and her coming of age in Spain and Morocco between 1936 and 1941. It's also a tale of espionage, with real historical figures, including Rosalind Fox who was believed to be a spy for the British, interwoven. Yes, WWII and Germany are central but this is not your typical WWII story, as most of it occurs during the Spanish Civil War and the very early days of WWII before the British declare war on Germany. It centers on the critical position Spain This is a wonderful story about a young seamstress and her coming of age in Spain and Morocco between 1936 and 1941. It's also a tale of espionage, with real historical figures, including Rosalind Fox who was believed to be a spy for the British, interwoven. Yes, WWII and Germany are central but this is not your typical WWII story, as most of it occurs during the Spanish Civil War and the very early days of WWII before the British declare war on Germany. It centers on the critical position Spain held and the value of it to Germany vs. the British need for it to remain neutral. Also at play is the devastation wrought by the Spanish Civil War and the political upheavals of Franco's early days. All of this was a story new to me and absolutely facinating.

Sira is the daughter of a single mother, a couture seamstress in Madrid, who herself beomes a gifted seamstress of couturier fashion. Sira falls in love with a man who ultimately abandons her in Tangiers, then an independent city in Morocco, leaving her penniless and pregnant. From there Sira ends up in Tetouen, the capital city of the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco (I had to look all that up -- had NO IDEA that Morocco was at one point carved up between the French and Spanish with Tangiers left 'independent'). That is where the guts of the plot begins, and Sira on a wing and a prayer opens an haute couture shop, setting up a means to survive. Eventually Sira returns to Madrid and opens a salon. The reasons why and what happens - you will just have to read the book.

I, of course, absolutely loved the whole sewing and couture salon and seamstress storyline. It created such a wonderful background.

I thought the translation read very smoothly, There's also an extensive bibliography of the works that the author relied upon in her research. Alas, just about every one is in Spanish (given the author is Spanish and htis was published first in Spain, that's no surprise), so I would have to look for translations but certainly it gives anyone interested a place to start for additional reading. ...more

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