I once again go into a Ruta Sepetys book reluctant to read it because it's historical fiction and I am a lazy human being and then I actually find myself riveted by the story. That's not to say that I read this book fast, because I very much didn't, but I also never wanted to stop reading it so make of that what you will.

It's got everything from mystery in all of the character's back stories, romance because you want Daniel and Ana to get together, and then there's the creepiness of the nuns with dead babies. And then there's the education of it, as always with Sepetys' books: I genuinely didn't know Spain was ruled by a dictator so recently. I knew there was a civil war back before WWII but didn't know why. I suspect I think of Spain the way most people in Britain think of Spain: it's that hot country that's nearby enough to be cheap to get to and also hot enough to justify the expense of a holiday. But back as recently as the 70s, it was ruled by fascism. Mind blowing because I've never heard anyone talk about it.

The book was well written, and I loved all of the characters, but I just didn't fully connect with it as a whole somehow. A failing of concentration on my part, I think.

For more than 20 years Spain has given blood ….. and what else? 

Ana is tired of silence, tired of unanswered questions and tired of secrets. A girl of patched pieces, she dreams of new beginnings. She works at the Castellana Hilton in Madrid – after twenty years of nationwide atrophy Franco is finally allowing tourists into Spain. She lives in a one-room shack with her brother and sister, her sister’s husband and their baby girl. They need to live in silence; their father was executed, mother imprisoned – their crime – teachers who hoped to develop a Montessori school with methods based on child development rather than religion. But Franco commands that all schools in Spain must be controlled by the Catholic church and any Republican sympathizers must be eradicated; but what can be built through silence?

Daniel Matheson is the son of an oil magnate, destined to inherit the business but he would rather be a photojournalist. He takes photo’s with sincerity and is competing in a photo contest to win the prize money because it would fund the journalism program he wants to attend – unbeknown to his parents. His mother is Spanish and the Matheson’s come to Madrid to seal an oil deal with Franco. Ana is assigned to the Matheson’s suite and a friendship develops between the two young people as Ana helps Daniel to try to tell the human story of Spain with his photographs. There are whispers of babies disappearing – it began after the war. Children of Republicans were taken as punishment to the parents and it is still happening – parents are told that their baby died when that’s not really the case. The babies are then given or sold to a family that is deemed more worthy. 

The author did a lot of research for this novel and the knowledge she gained allows her to weave a web around you and the characters, intertwining you together. It never ceases to amaze me that as I grow older I realise how much more I still have to learn and how many things I know very little about. In this book, I learnt more about the Spanish civil war, bullfighting and photography and met some unbelievable characters who survived more heartbreak than any one person should.
 
Saphira

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

This is a YA historical fiction that follows a few different perspectives in Madrid in 1957. I found this book incredibly difficult to get into. It took me months to finish it, and I considered giving up on it several times, so no one is more surprised than me to have given it four stars. The pay off in this book is fantastic. It may have taken me ages to get into this book, forever to fall in love with the characters and months of pushing to finish this book, but I ended up absolutely loving it. This is a period of time I knew very little about, and it’s crazy to think how recently this happened in the grand scale of history. This book made me smile, it made me cry and most importantly, it opened my eyes. A must read for anyone who wants a fictional view at this period of time in Spain.

I am a massive fan of Ruta Sepetys, let me say that first. Between Shades of Grey broke me, and has stayed with me, and I have a lot of feelings for the sequel Salt to the Sea also. Out of the Easy, whilst less painful, was no less of a good read and so it kind of goes without saying that I was 100% grabby hands for The Fountains of Silence, her new novel which was published at the start of October. I was (I am) so here for this book.

It's set in Spain in the 1950's under the fascist dictatorship of General Franco. Here for any and all the historical novels thank you so the blurb for this ticked so many boxes for me and whilst I do know about this period of time in Spanish history, I haven't read much set in it so I was super keen to flex my muscles a little bit; and I knew, I just knew that Sepetys wouldn't disappoint.

I was right. YAY FOR ME. You may applaud me and my right-ness.

So.

The story follows Daniel, son of a Texas oil tycoon father and a Spanish mother. He's holidaying in the shiny new Spain that is presented to tourists in a bid to draw them in because post-war Spain is so desperate for money, and , bless him, he has no idea of the life the hotel maid he finds himself falling for is leading.

Simple rich boy poor girl forbidden love story you think?

Oh bless your innocent heart. This is not that. I mean, it is. But it also so is not.

Daniel wants to be a photojournalist and, when he starts to scratch the surface  of the Spain outside his fancy hotel doors, he realises there's a story he wants his photos to tell - the story of beautiful terrified girls, of matadors and missing children and families forced to pay extortionate amounts of money for the upkeep of the graves of their dead.

I'm not even kidding. Can you imagine a life where you can't afford to eat because all your money is spent making sure the body of your Mother isn't exhumed and thrown into an unmarked mass grave? I mean, Jesus Christ.

This book will make the hairs on your arms stand on end - and do you want to know why? Ok, so read this book and then read something like The Handmaid's Tale and tell me that there aren't terrifying similarities between a fictional dystopian future and Spain, post WWII:

Women are prettier with their mouths shut, to be desired yet not desirable; stolen babies are sold by the church to the highest bidder; there is an undeniable and sickening gulf between the rich and the 'degenerate' poor. It made my jaw drop. This happened guys, this book isn't set 100 years in the future or even 1 year in the future, it's set in the past and it is based on cold hard facts.

Sepetys' work is always so well researched and this is no different. The way this multi-faceted story of love and loss and identity unfolds against the backdrop of Franco's horrors is a rare and special read. It's a beautiful story - Sepetys writes first love so well - but it's also the kind of story that makes your stomach twist; the worst thing really about any kind if historical fiction is that it's based in fact and those facts are so rarely good.

Ana and Daniel's love story is beautiful, don't get me wrong, and I promise you these are two kids so worth your time and your love - their story is wonderful, slowly building to a breathtaking crescendo but it's not what this book is about. It's about - like Shades before it - the atrocities of our history that shouldn't be allowed to be forgotten.

Did you know it's believed that over 300,000 babies were stolen during the years Franco was in power? 300,000 families told their newborn baby had died, when in actual fact that baby had been sold to a family deemed more 'suitable'.
I cannot.
It doesn't bear thinking about, but Sepetys, with her beautiful love story between the rich boy and the poor girl, she makes you think about it, drawing you in and holding you tight and slowly and quietly breaking your heart without you even realising.

For me, Sepetys can do little wrong, and this book is so so so worth your time, I promise you.

Also Fuga. Not ever getting over him, ever.

I previously read Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, which was so good. And I feel like it was everything that The Fountains of Silence wasn't. Because this book starts so slow, and there are so many POVs, and it's incredibly difficult to make out a clear plot. I really think it was trying to chew off too much at once, and I unfortunately wasn't able to finish it.

This was an interesting story but I get the impression that most of the characters were very selfish people. Very sad most of the time with a thread of need running through.  A bit different to the books I read most often but I was absorbed by the story of the struggle following the Spanish Civil War and the rule of Franco. I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its historical interest and the involvement of an American/Spanish family and a young Spanish girl.

The year is 1957 and Spain is under a fascist dictatorship. General Francisco Franco has opened spain up to tourism and while tourists and foreign businessmen flood into the country under the welcoming guise of sunshine and wine, there is a dark and violent underbelly for the people who live there. Among the tourists is 18 year old Daniel Matheson, the son of a Texan oil tycoon. He comes to spain in hopes of finally seeing his mother’s home country through the lens of his camera. He meets Ana, a worker at the hotel and as the two get closer he learns about the lingering grasp the Spanish Civil War has on her family and the danger he is now involved in.

I’ve read every one of Ruta Sepeyts’ books and I adore each and every single one of them. She has an obvious passion for history and always treats the stories she writes with lots of care and compassion. In The Fountains of Silence she delves into fascist Spain focusing on the oppression and violence that the population of Spain faced. In a time where Europe was busy dealing with the consequences of Nazi Germany and the atrocities committed there, suffering of other places were often overlooked.

The characters were what really brought the story to life, as is usually the case with Sepetys’ novels. I loved Daniel and his passion for photography and his strong belief that photographing will show the realities of fascist Spain to the world. He was genuinely a good and kind character. I loved Ana and her family too and how her family highlighted the lasting effects that a civil war and a dictator has.

As a lover of history myself, I was already aware of the history of fascist Spain, its civil war and following dictatorship. However, I know for a lot of people, this is something that they are not aware even happened, so for that reason alone I think this is an important book. The Fountains of Silence is a book I would highly recommend for fans of historical fiction.

The Fountains of Silence is a sad book full of suffering, pain, and oppression but also a book full of hope, love, family, and compassion.

The latest novel by Ruta Seteis took readers to Madrid, Spain, in 1957 under the palm of the hand of fascist dictator General Francisco Franco. For the first time, I read this period about the historical period of the twentieth century and continue to amaze the talent of the author, making the bridge between YA and the general historical novels. 

 We have Daniel a young idealist figure, a young Texas who travelled with his American businessman father and Spanish mother. With a Handheld camera, Daniel, like readers, “want to understand” what life in real Spain is not what is advertised as tourist destinations. 

 Overall it was a good book. If it is going to be adapted for the screen, it is going to be TV series, not a movie.

Wow! This was an amazing book! I’ve read books on the Spanish Civil War but this is the first novel that tackles what happened afterwards. Absolutely fascinating! Beautifully written, with some outstanding descriptions of life for those who were on the wrong side of Franco’s Spain and how this affected the lives of the children they left behind. I found some of the details hard to believe and particularly liked the use of quotes from US government advice to delegates and embassy staff at the beginning of each chapter. I couldn’t put this novel down and am now keen to research further on this period of history. Real history wound around a great story makes this book a must read!

I want to start of this book review by saying that I've read three of this authors other novels and each of the others I've either lived or loved because she puts so much emotion into her writing. This however I felt it was to long and each part a different pov would talk I found it wasn't long enough to really get to know the characters. The ending was also not great, with all that being said though I still will read more of her work in the future

Another hidden part of history highlighted by Sepetys.  I love how she brings the past to life and makes me genuinely interested in the lives of ordinary people in that era far beyond what might have been taught at school.  It tends to be relatively recent "history" too which makes it easier to feel a connection than to say, 1700s.
This one is set in Franco's dictatorship in 1950s Madrid with the classic trope of American hotel guest falling in love with his maid...  Yet it is so much more than that simple love story with multiple POVs showing life from her brother Rafa's perspective and from her cousin Puri's to give a much wider viewpoint for the reader.
Some beautiful language and unusual ways with words: 
"Her parents’ offense has left Ana rowing dark waters of dead secrets" 
“She rides dressage.  You ride rodeo.” 
“Their discussion sways like a dance.  He steps forward with a question.  She pivots back, holds for a moment.” 

The only downside I would say is the slow start.  It took me a couple of tries to get started on this novel but I think part of that was poor formatting in the netgalley copy I received with the historical quotes.  I hope the finalised eBook is easier to read.

Here's two major reasons reviewers give for not liking Ruta Sepetys' books:

1. Short chapters which can be difficult because of jumping between characters or situations quickly, creating a feeling of detachment from the key characters.
2. Limited time with each character due to a large cast, cementing that feeling of detachment from key characters.

But I love the way Ruta Sepetys writes. I love the short chapters, they build so much tension for me. I love the number of characters, personalities and fleeting moments with them forcing me to piece together future events about to unfold. And I really love the seamless writing; I think Ruta Sepetys is an incredible historical fiction writer and has an "x-factor" that other authors really lack when telling tales like this; she creates horrible characters sometimes with complexities that make me still care to read about them. Or maybe it's a degree of authenticity, a degree of respect for the people and countries she shares the history of. I don't know...

What I do know is that this book didn't work very well for me. 

In post-civil war Spain, under the fascist rule of Franco, many of Spain's people are impossibly poor and grieving for lost family and friends. Tourists flock to Spain, desperate to see bull-fighting and Spanish Matadors, but Texan Daniel has other aspirations. His parents, holidaying in Madrid, have big dreams for Daniel, but those dreams don't mesh with his love of photography. As Daniel tries to capture powerful footage of the people of Spain in an effort to win a photography scholarship behind his parents back, he stumbles across Ana - his parent's personal assistant in the hotel. Ana's family are poverty-stricken, in jobs they despise, and have lost their parents to the civil war; Daniel is a welcome distraction Ana could really use.

The pacing of this novel was all wrong; it felt slow, in a way that the pacing of her previous books were too but somehow this was painfully noticeable where Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray just weren't. I didn't feel compelled to keep reading, the characters didn't feel complex as they did in her previous novels, and there was really only one direction this story could ever progress. 

Not for me this time; I'd been toying with the idea of reading Out of the Easy, but based upon The Fountains of Silence I think I'd better stick with Sepetys' World War novels for the time being. 

ARC provided free from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

I have not finished this book.  I cannot explain why I am finding it so difficult to do so.  I have read books by Ruta Septys before and really enjoyed them. I have always read them in the print version and so have been able to indulge my terrible habit of reading ahead (this is not so easy with a kindle version).  I have such a sense of doom about the plot.  I am not sure which character will suffer first or even most.  As a result, I am reading it very, very slowly.  I care about so many of the characters, they have been well drawn, the menace of the situation is there as well.  I do wonder if it is the feeling that in certain countries the fear of right wing politics is returning and so the realistic nature of the plot is influencing me more than usual.  I have also read a number of Holocaust books, an autobiography about South African Apartheid and a coming of age fiction book in recent weeks whilst also trying to read this.   I need something 'light and fluffy' before I can finish this one.  I will do one day and will amend my review at that time.  It is no reflection on the book itself, it is just my mental capacity to deal with the tension that is at fault.

A very readabl, entertaining and thought-provoking novel. The theme is heart breaking, the theft of up to 300000 babies from parents considered almost delinquent because of opposing beliefs to Franco's regime in 1930 to 50s Spain. I had heard about this tragedy but hadnt understood the number was so great. The author very cleverly weaves a story of the truth of this travesty through a romance between a wealthy young American tourist and Ana a maid at his hotel. Absolutely captivating. My thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley for my ARC..

Very refreshing to read about a time and place I know little about.  Spain during Franco's dictatorship.  A well written and page turning novel about the hardships of the Spanish during post WWII, until Franco's death.  Comparing them to the freedom and luxury of life outside of Spain, in particular a USA family.  A love story too, of a couple who had to ride out the regime before finding themselves again.

It's 1957, and Daniel Matheson is spending several months in Spain, under the dictatorship of Franco, with his American father and Spanish mother. As Daniel uses his camera to see the real side of Madrid, he also begins to know Ana - the maid in his hotel whose family have been cruelly treated by the Spanish Civil War, and Franco's regime. Daniel begins to discover the terrible and beautiful sides of Spain, but also needs to question how far he can delve into secrets, especially if they put Ana in danger.

This is a slow-burn story showing a side of Spain that's easily forgotten and also focusing on an issue of stolen children and corruption in the orphanages and the religious orders that run them that many people do not know about. Once I got to grips with the different POVs in the story (there are a few, which is definitely a style of Sepetys), I really began to enjoy the story being told and the type of Spain being shown to me.

The POVs, while a few of them, it did seem to add something to every side of Spain. There was Daniel, the tourist, Ana, the girl wanting to escape, Julia, the mother, Puri, the one who believed, and Rafa, the fighter.

I did find myself completely enthralled by the story and the deeper I got, the deeper I began to feel and fear for the characters. There was such an air of menace and violence.

I did find myself a bit disappointed in part 2 versus part 1, mostly because something happened which is just not something I like when it happens to characters. Things felt slightly rushed as well, which I presumed would happen as part 2 didn't start till 80% into the book. And it ended a tiny bit abruptly so I was shocked when I turned the page and that was it.

I received a free ebook version of this book from Netgalley. Thankyou to both Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this! My review is still honest.

Sepetys has a knack for pinpointing periods of history that are lesser known-Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray both cast light on times that aren't frequently discussed. This one is no different. An evocative portrayal of Spain under Franco's rule, it is entertaining, emotional and educational all at once.
These characters jump right off the page! I loved reading about each of their inner desires, their hopes, their doubts about the world around them and how they lived with them. It was a hard story to read, and one made all the more upsetting by the fact that the events are true. It really felt like the author did a lot of research with this, because the culture and historical nature seemed so vivid and real. I was incredibly satisfied with the ending and really ended up caring deeply about each character.
I will say that for a good portion of the start of this book, the multiple POVs were quite disorientating and I found it difficult to keep track of who was who. It was hard to get into, although it did become far easier around the halfway point. 
This one is probably my least favourite of the 3 Sepetys books I've now read, although it is by no means bad! It simply didn't seem quite so perfect as Salt to the Sea or Between Shades of Gray, but I still highly recommend it. It's different to anything else I've ever read and opened my eyes to events I hadn't even heard of.

Spain has opened its borders to American tourists and those in the oil industry looking for business. Ana is working at the Hilton hotel, surrounded by tourists and Americans living a very different life to her own. Her cousin, her sister, brother, everyone she knows is trying desperately to live life safely under Franco's regime. She doesn't want to meet the same fatal end her parents did for rebelling against him. And then there's Daniel, the son of a Texan oil tycoon come to America with his family as his father tries to seal a deal, who is only interested in photography, taking pictures of the real Spain... and Ana. 

I adored this book. With switching POV's, Sepetys doesn't fail to build each character individually and give them all their own strong voices. I love how she always brings her books to life, especially since they are usually about a period of history that is rarely written about in fiction. Sepetys is a very skilled author, obviously conducting a lot of research before she starts writing, to make sure that I, as a reader, can immerse myself fully in her characters and their lives. I loved every second of reading The Fountains of Silence.

5 stars.

I was so excited to read this book, despite not having read any of Ruta Sepetys' other novels, because I've heard they're so good! In general I really enjoyed this book but I did have a few problems, mainly towards the end of the book. After spending 5 months living in Spain I was very excited to get into this book as I was really missing the country and I thought the atmosphere of this book was spot on! It is also a time period I know quite a bit about and I thought it was handled well and told a story that is not usually touched upon. However, I felt the ending was a huge cop out. It came to a really exciting point about 80% of the way through and then went to something like 10 years in the future and we never got to find out what happened to the characters in the past. The ending felt like everyone just got their happy ending and that was all that mattered, half of the story felt like it was missing. Overall, an enjoyable read and I will pick up other books by the author in the future, I just wish there was more to the ending than we got!

Ruta Sepetys has done a magnificent job transmitting the feelings, the emotions of people subjugated to Franco’s regime. Everyone knows about the dictatorship in Spain, but most of us only know what we’ve read from the history books in school. That is why Historical Fiction is such a powerful tool to expand that knowledge, to dive deeper, to get personal and learn about important historical events from a different perspective.

The fiction element and the made-up characters are what brings so much emotion into the book, that helps us, readers, to memorize the historical events. They get imprinted in our minds and in our hearts because we feel so deeply for people who suffered from the regime and its consequences.

Besides the emotional factor, Ruta Sepetys was able to weave in her fictional story some very important elements of Franco’s regime:
- the place of women in the society,
- the lost children of Francoism,
- the poverty and inequality,
- the rising doubts in Spanish Catholic Church,
- the international relationship between postwar Spain and the USA.

With so many female characters in The Fountains of Silence, it was only right to provide a better view of women’s rights and place in Franco’s Spain. We got to see the comparison of views, wishes, and lifestyles between (1) Purification , the smart young girl devoted to the Catholic Church, working in the orphanage that was run by nuns; (2) Ana and Julia , the daughters of the Republicans, barely surviving in the poorest part of Madrid, trying to make the ends meet; and (3) the life of American women , portrayed through Daniel’s mother and girlfriend, the photographs in magazines and newspapers that were scattered around the Hotel where Ana worked but forbidden everywhere else.

Reading about the ultimate destiny of women (motherhood) and seeing those young girls so scared of Franco’s dictatorship and his Crows, the guards of his regime, but also so fearless about protecting their families, distinguishing right from wrong, left a deep mark on me and my perception of women’s rights. It made me think about how far we’ve come, especially in the Western and European societies. And how many women there still are that suffer from that fear every single day.

Continuing the previous point, I couldn’t skip the part about the lost children of Francoism. That is something that I didn’t know about this period of time and only researched after finishing the book because I was so horrified by t these events.

This all began with the children being abducted from their Republican parents, and put in the orphanages or gave out for adoption to “proper” families in hopes that the “right” parents will remove that republican strike from the children.

Later on, the abduction of children developed into a business. Often, in hospitals and cliniques, newborns would be declared dead to their parents, just to be sold for a higher price for adoption.~

This truly horrified me, and the events in the book translated this theme very well. I’ve read a couple of articles on this subject after I finished the book, and I still can’t wrap my head about the fact that something like that in such magnitude and with the involvement of so many people actually happened.

As you can see, I’d highly recommend this book solely based on the social conditions and representation of Francoism. However, those were not the only elements that were done magnificently well.

Ana, Daniel, Rafa, Purification and others, each of their stories played with my feelings, made me happy for them and sad when things went downhill. Their personal stories were captivating, and I couldn’t get enough of them. And even after the book ended, I wanted more, I needed to know what Puri went through. I needed to see Rafa and how life treated him after the events. I just grew so attached to the characters that I didn’t want to let them go.

I could talk about this book for hours. I’d tell you about the fearless Rafa, righteous Fuga, and cautious Julian. But I wouldn’t do them justice the same way that Ruta Sepetys did. The Fountains of Silence is, in my opinion, a true masterpiece of historical fiction, and everyone needs to read it at least once in their lifetime.