‘Shadows Over the Spanish Sun’ by Caroline Montague is an atmospheric dual timeline tale that takes us to the 1920s through to the 1930s and then returns us to 2000. One thing I particularly tend to enjoy is dual timeline stories so I was looking forward to this book.
We meet Mia who has received news that her grandpa Leonardo has had an accident while riding his horse and is in a coma. She goes to Andalucia in Spain to be with him. Her grandpa is her life along with the hacienda that she spent countless times staying at with her grandparents. She loves spending time there, although not in these circumstances.
Her family all return home leaving Mia alone. She spends her time either at her grandfather’s bedside or trying to stop the hacienda and estate from falling into money problems. Whilst she is doing this she discovers a family history that is not the one she is familiar with. Mia is unable to just leave it and decides to dig more to find out the truth. We are then swept into two timelines, the present day as we see Mia discovering the truth of her family’s history and the other that returns to the past and the days of the Spanish Civil war and the forbidden love story we learn.
As we see the past play out in her great-aunt’s words and Leonardo’s too the tragedy and loss is clear to see as well as his need for revenge. Mia begins to understand many things about herself also. The passion and devotion for family, home and the horses as well as true love. Caroline Montague has skillfully written some of these into Mia’s life as well.
I have only read one other book that is written around this time in Spain and I feel like I have experienced the divisions it caused between family, neighbours and even friends as a result of the political lines drawn between the Nationalists and Republicans. The author has really brought to the fore the human cost of this time. While at the same time managing to highlight forgiveness and putting things behind you. This is a theme of Mia’s life too.
A very skillfully created story that Caroline Montague has woven historical detail and the emotions of the characters together to produce a sweeping story that makes you feel almost connected to the characters and I found I was thinking about Mia after I had finished the book.
Thank you to Orion Books for the copy of the book for me to bring you my own thoughts on it today.
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 