Play Book Tag discussion
This topic is about
The Time in Between
March 2021: Africa
>
The Time In Between by Maria Dueñas - 4 stars
date
newest »
newest »
Great review. ("stitched" - yes.) It sounds like my kind of book too. I like books with character growth, and a combination of personal and historical plots. And espionage. I haven't read a good spy book in a long time, and I have a ton of them in my kindle and audio libraries.
NancyJ wrote: "Great review. ("stitched" - yes.) It sounds like my kind of book too. I like books with character growth, and a combination of personal and historical plots. And espionage. I haven't read a good sp..."Hope you get a chance to read it, NancyJ. The spying part doesn't kick in until the second half.
PBT Comments: Approx. 70% of this book is set in Morocco, with the remainder split between Spain and Portugal.
Set in Spain, Morocco, and Portugal during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, this book tells the story of Sira, a poor seamstress born in Madrid, who transforms into an acclaimed designer. Sira falls in love and migrates to Morocco during the Spanish Civil War, where she endures many hardships and must remake her life. She is swept up in the turbulent events of the era, including politics and espionage.
This is the type of historical fiction I enjoy. The author sets the story around fictional characters and supplements the narrative with real people. It feels authentic to the time period. The story includes romantic relationships, but it is not primarily a romance. Sira must find an inner core of strength to overcome many obstacles, and her character growth is noticeable. The storyline is stitched together in segments that portray the main events in Sira’s life, which seems appropriate in a novel about a seamstress. There is a lot going on in this novel and it offers a pleasing mix of character development and plot. The pace ramps up in the second half when the espionage storyline kicks in.
The story is narrated by Sira, looking back on her life. “And that is my story, or at least that’s how I remember it, perhaps varnished over with the sheen that decades and nostalgia give to things. What happened in Spain after the European war, as well as the traces of many people who have passed through this account—Beigbeder, Rosalinda Fox, Serrano Suñer, and others—can be found in history books and archives, and in the memories of older generations. Their comings and goings, their glories and miseries were objective facts that in their day filled newspapers and fed the salons and the clusters of people gossiping on street corners.”
I particularly enjoyed the depiction of life in Tétouan , Morocco. The author does a great job of establishing an ambiance of color and activity. The writing style is detailed, perhaps occasionally too detailed, but overall, it is an entertaining piece of historical fiction.