Breaking The Silence by Maria Neito @PublishingPush #Bookreview

Breaking The Silence is a historical drama written around the Spanish Civil war. Mari is a six year old child who lives with her extended family in Madrid. This story begins with the radio news of an army from Africa, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, bringing an uprising led by a man named Franco. Mari’s Grandfather once went to America in search of freedom and the American dream, but they were found poverty, sickness and suffering. They returned with hope of finding a better Spain and don Juan wrote many articles for newspapers in support of a country with equality for it’s people.

Mari’s family became part of the Republicans as the people fought Franco. Madrid suffered with food shortages and bombing and became a dangerous place to live. Mari’s father, Alfonso, took Mari to cousins in the country to take her away from the atrocities for a while, but even the war eventually came to the village. The child witnessed far too many deaths in this story and it did affect her mentally. She was brought back to Madrid, but Madrid was still under attack and when her Grandparents fled to safety, Mari stayed with her father and step-mother. When the civil war ended, Spain still suffered from the new regime, Mari asked to join the Flechas youth groups, the discipline, food and education appealed to her need for stability. Sadly her young mind was manipulated and led to tragedy for more than one character.

This was a difficult subject matter to read, but it is a part of history often over-shadowed by WW2. I read this book in mobi format and my copy was in need of tweaking for kindle reading. This was a free copy of the book given to me by Publishing Push.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com