A sedentary and passive activity, it was traditionally done by respectable women within their homes. Sewing is a notable signifier of femininity. It is this research which gives the novel a backbone and makes it all the more compelling.ĭueñas’ decision to make her protagonist a seamstress is not without significance and symbolism. Many of the characters of the novel have been drawn from real life (as an academic, it’s clear the author has done her research here): Alan Hillgarth, a British spy working in Madrid, Juan Luis Beigbeder, High Commissioner of Spanish Morocco and later Franco’s foreign minister and his English lover-turned-spy Rosalinda Powell Fox. This is escapism but intellectual escapism you are immersed in the action which plays out in 1930s and 1940s Madried and Tangiers, and the romance and wonderful descriptions make for a sensual escape from everyday life (which is just what I needed this week). It’s a commitment read the novel weighs in at 600 pages, but I was so drawn into the plot that I had finished it in a couple of day.
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