Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Book Blog Tour of The Return by Victoria Hislop

I'm excited to be part of the TLC Book Blog Tour of The Return by Victoria Hislop.



Synopsis:
Sonia visits Granada to celebrate a friend's birthday with a dance class. Unfamiliar with the city's past and the brutality under Franco's regime, a chance encounter at a neighborhood cafe introduces Sonia to the brave and complex story of the Rodriguez family's suffering and survival through the Spanish civil war.

Seventy years earlier, Concha and Pablo owned and managed the same cafe with no notion of the danger and pain that would soon visit their family. Their eldest son, Antonio, is an idealistic young teacher. Their second child, Ignacio, is a star matador. Their only daughter, Mercedes only loves to dance and would spend her days honing her skills with their third child, Emilio, a gifted musician. But when Ignacio is seduced by General Franco's policies, the civil war tears the family apart.

Book Review:
Beautifully written, The Return transports you to the Spain during the complex and extraordinary time of the Spanish Civil War. You will be drawn in as Concha and Pablo try to keep the Rodriguez family together and safe. The children battle their fates. Bullfights, Spanish dancers, Federico Garcia Lorca, warring brothers, loving parents, and star-crossed lovers, the story offers beauty, drama and violence. The stories of love and sorrow will linger with you for a long time.

Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (October 6, 2009), 416 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher and TLC Book Tours.
Thanks so much to TLC Book Tours, the publisher and Victoria Hislop for this opportunity!




About the Author, courtesy of author's website:

Victoria Hislop read English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and writes travel features for The Sunday Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday, House & Garden and Woman & Home. Her first novel The Island was published by Headline Review and held the number 1 slot in the paperback charts for eight consecutive weeks, selling over a million copies in the UK. The book has also been published in over twenty languages and has also been a number 1 bestseller in Greece. Victoria was the Newcomer of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2007 and won the Richard & Judy Summer Read competition. She lives in Kent, with her husband and their two children.

Interested in discussing the book further? Visit Victoria Hislop's website for a reading group guide for The Return at http://www.readingcircle.co.uk/return-guide.html

Intrigued by the book? Visit the other host blogs listed below.

Participating Sites:

Monday, October 5th – Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker
Tuesday, October 6th – Starting Fresh
Thursday, October 8th – As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves
Tuesday, October 13th – Bending Bookshelf
Wednesday, October 14th – All About {n}
Thursday, October 15th – The Tome Traveller
Monday, October 19th – The Scholastic Scribe
Tuesday, October 20th – Dreadlock Girl Reads
Wednesday, October 21st – Write Meg
Thursday, October 22nd – Literate Housewife
Monday, October 26th – Diary of an Eccentric
Tuesday, October 27th – Drey’s Library
Wednesday, October 28th – Book Chatter and Other Stuff

3 comments:

  1. Bullfights and star-crossed lovers? Sounds like a fun book!

    Thanks for being on this tour, Gaby!

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  2. Great review! I really loved this one. It took me a while to get used to the story telling...not a whole lot of first person used. But in the end, what a beautiful and sad tale of the family.

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