He also gets shots of the “Crows” which is terribly dangerous, a close-up of a terrified nun running with a dead baby, and eventually a shot of Franco himself. As a seamstress, “Julia’s fingers are silent narrators, embroidered with scars.”ĭaniel photographs portraits of the family and arranges to give them prints.
Naïve, sweet Daniel wins over some members of the family and photographs Fuga wearing his “suit of light.” Julia is a seamstress, sewing layers of glitter and glass into the jackets and trousers of the great matadors and has borrowed this hand-me-down costume for the orphan matador. Living on the street is Rafa’s companion, a fellow orphan, and aspiring matador, Fuga. Not only is Ana embarrassed, it is dangerous for everyone to have Daniel’s big sleek rented Buick parked on the dirt roads along the sewage ditch of Valleca. Nick Van Dorn tricks our main character, Daniel, who is a serious photographer, to visit Ana in the slum. Ana lives with her sister Julia, her brother-in-law Antonio, their infant child Lali, and her brother Rafa in the slum of Valleca. Her parents had been teachers and were executed by the regime for their views of education. The streets are filled with Franco’s police force, called “Crows.” Any Spaniard who opposes Franco walks on thin ice. The wait staff includes the cheerful Buttons, the mean-spirited Lorenza, and the lovely Ana. The hotel is filled with interesting characters, including Shep Van Dorn a lecherous diplomat, his reckless son Nick, the mysterious Paco Lobo and the journalist Ben. The Matheson family is staying at the posh Madrid Castellano Hilton, once a castle. Sepetys is considered a cross-over author meaning her books are meant for both young adults and adults. Ruta Sepetys, the author of “The Fountains of Silence” (Philomel 2019) does deep research and writes historical fiction set within little-known historical events. Generalissimo Franco, the fascist dictator, has been in power since 1936 and will continue to rule until his death in 1975.
Daniel Matheson, 18 years old, visits Madrid with his oil baron father and Spanish born mother in 1957.
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