The Fountains of Silence: incredible. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars
I love historical fiction because I learn so much about a period in time usually not widely taught. I had absolutely no idea there was a dictator in Spain supported by Hitler and Mussolini or that Spain didn’t receive financial aid after World War Two.
This story brought a piece of history we aren’t always taught to life, all about the dictator Francisco Franco, from the point of view of a recent American high school graduate Daniel, with a passion and eye for photography and a father in new oil money on business in Madrid.
Staying at the fancy hotel in Madrid, Daniel meets Ana, the maid assigned to their room during their month long stay in Madrid who he instantly takes a liking to. From her and her family, he begins to capture the truth behind Franco and what really is happening in Madrid through the lense of his camera. But with military presence everywhere, it might be more dangerous than he thought.
I truly enjoyed this story, I love the writing style used where we see each characters perspective and are able to piece together the story, but the characters don’t know what eachother knows. I think it’s called dramatic irony. It really brings to light the fear and darkness of the regime in Spain and the stark differences between the new oil Texas-Americans visiting and the Spaniards because they don’t communicate everything between eachother out of fear and it means no one really knows the full story of what is happening.
What really happened in Spain was shocking. Babies were being taken at the hospitals and the parents were told the babies died, but in fact they were being sold as orphans to adoptive parents. Part of it to make money, part of it to “rehabilitate” babies born to parents who were rebels. Wild.
My six word review:
The untold story of Spain’s “orphans”
I feel like I can’t do this story justice all I can recommend is you read it and then let’s chat! What did you think?
