Author:Dulce Chacon,Nick Caistor
Dulce Chacón's book has had an immense success in Spain, no doubt because the novelist speaks with a just and powerful voice, and because she has allowed women - the most anonymous, the most suppressed, the most silenced - to speak out" Le Monde
It is 1939. In the Ventas prison in Madrid a group of women have been incarcerated. Their crime is to have supported or fought on the Republican side in Spain's cruel and devastating Civil War. Chief among them are Hortensia, who fought with the militia and is pregnant by her husband Felipe - a man still at large and fighting against Franco's dictatorship - and who lives with the knowledge that she will be shot after she gives birth; sixteen-year-old Elvira, who tried to leave Spain with her mother, but was arrested by the Falangists while she was boarding their ship; Tomasa, whose husband, four sons and daughter-in-law were thrown off a bridge; and Pepita, Hortensia's sister, who from outside the prison acts as messenger between her and her husband.
Dulce Chacón's deeply moving novel is based on the actual testimonies of a number of women who survived the Spanish Civil War, and suffered imprisonment under the France regime, as well as on accounts of others who died fighting for freedom. A bestseller in Spain, where it was voted 'Book of the year', The Sleeping Voice is remarkable for its combination of dramatic intensity and historical authenticity.
An action-packed, cracking good read
—— (of Designated Targets) , Herald-SunIf there was a Booker for explosive alternative history techno-thrillers with guts and brains, it would be a cinch
—— (of Weapons of Choice) , Sydney Morning HeraldAn excellent page-turner
—— (of Weapons of Choice) , FHMKhadra draws the moods and motives of his village lad-turned-apprentice jihadi with engrossing power... lets you taste the sand, dust and blood - and most of all, the despair... In his own unsettling way, Yasmina Khadra offers the kind of truth that only well-wrought fiction tells
—— Boyd Tonkin , IndependentA sad and important book
—— Financial TimesOne of the most important books to be published in Europe this year
—— IndependentClearly, Holland has a deep knowledge of life in the 1930s and 40s, both civil and military, because every page oozes with authenticity ... a heartwarming homage to courage, honour, friendship and love ... Highly recommended, and five stars out fo five
—— Ben Kane, author of Spartacus: RebellionThis is literature at its very best: a book with the power to reveal the unimagined, so that one's life is set in a changed context. I urge you to read it
—— Time OutSo powerful is this recreated past that you long to call Birdsong perfect
—— The TimesA powerful novel that is difficult to put down
—— Independent on SundayMy favourite novel of all time because it’s not just the most moving First World War story, it also has a wonderful romance
—— Kate Garraway , Daily ExpressIt broke my heart.
—— Matthew Lewis , BuzzfeedMagnificent. A classic that everyone should have read.
—— Sandra Howard , Daily ExpressA sweeping historical drama, it’s also erotic, poignant and tear-inducing. I read it and wept buckets. I don’t think anything else Faulks has written before or since surpasses the brilliance of this one.
—— Reading MattersThis is literature at its very best. A book with the power to reveal the unimagined, so that one’s life is set in a changed context. I urge you to read it.
—— Andrew Denham-Davis , DISCUSWhile marked by poppy wearing and memorial ceremonies, the First World War is also sustained through family history, handed down from one generation to the next. No book better articulates the impact of this narrative than Stephen Faulks’ Birdsong.
—— Lucy Middleton , Reader's DigestA truly amazing read
—— Gail Teasdale , 24housingI’d never read such descriptive literature, and couldn’t sleep at night for thinking about what I’d just read. His [Faulks] portrayal of terror on the battlefield is so powerful
—— Anna Redman , Good HousekeepingMy all-time favourite book
—— Kate Garraway , Good Housekeeping
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