Synopses & Reviews
“Strongly atmospheric . . . Fans of Spanish Mystery master Arturo Perez-Revate will enjoy this volume.” —
Baltimore Sun “There’s plenty to admire in this mystery. . . . Satisfying.”—Washington Post Book World
“Impressive levels of storytelling and fairness. . . . Wonderful. . . . Pawel resists easy solutions to historically difficult problems.”—Chicago Tribune
“A colorful, thrilling story about loyalty and love . . . Pawel weaves together her characters’ fate with a deft and cunning hand.”—Detroit Free Press
“[Pawel] frames the difficult and moral questions of the era in the lives of her fascinating characters, bringing history alive.”—Rocky Mountain News
Lieutenant Carlos Tejada has been transferred to Salamanca, the city where he studied law before the Civil War. His new police duties include monitoring parolees—former professors who were fired for protesting a Franco decree. Elena Fernandez, having lost her job because of her political sympathies, has returned home to Salamanca from Madrid where she and Tejada had first been romantically involved. Her father, one of the parolees, was a distinguished professor of Classics. He has just received a letter from a Jewish friend, Professor Joseph Meyer, begging for help to cross into Spain from France before he is forcibly repatriated to Germany.
Professor Fernandez cannot violate his parole by traveling to the border town of San Sebastian so Elena goes in his stead. Tejada, tracing a missing parolee, finds himself in San Sebastian, too. There Elena and Tejada’s paths fatefully cross again.
Rebecca Pawel is 26 years old, lives in New York City and teaches at a Brooklyn high school. Her widely-praised first novel, Death of a Nationalist, won the 2004 Edgar® Award for Best First Novel and was an LA Times Book Prize finalist. Death of a Nationalist appeared on several 2003 top ten mystery lists, including Chicago Tribune, Publishers Weekly and Detroit Free Press.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Synopsis
Lt. Tejada has been transferred to Salamanca. Tracking a missing parolee, he finds himself in San Sebastian, where he runs into Elena Fernendez, with whom he had been romantically involved while he was stationed in Madrid. Elena and her parents are trying to help a professional colleague, a Jewish refugee, cross into Spain, will they succeed?
Synopsis
Praise for Rebecca Pawel:"The immediate aftermath of the Spanish Civil War provides the bleak setting for Pawel's stirring first novel. . . . Unsparing in her depiction of the casual brutalities spawned by war, but also offers evidence of the power of little civilities and kindnesses in a novel that easily transcends the formulaic crime story . . . Should get some serious literary attention."-Publishers Weekly, starred
"Absolutely riveting . . . Rebecca Pawel's first act of surprising courage is to make her main character not one of the romantic Republicans of folk song and Hemingway story but an officer of their much-hated enemy, the dreaded Guardia Civil."-Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune
Carlos Tejada, newly promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the Guardia Civil, has been transferred to Salamanca, the city where he studied before the Civil War. His new police duties include monitoring parolees, former professors who were fired for protesting a Franco decree.
Elena Fernandez, having lost her job because of her political sympathies, has returned home to Salamanca from Madrid where she and Lieutenant Tejada had first been romantically involved. Her father, one of the parolees, was a distinguished professor of Classics. He has just received a letter from a Jewish friend, Professor Joseph Meyer, begging for help to cross into Spain from France before he is forcibly repatriated to Germany.
Professor Fernandez cannot violate his parole by traveling to the border town of San Sebastian, so Elena goes in his stead. Tejada, tracing a missing parolee, finds himself in San Sebastian, too. There Elena and Tejada's paths fatefully cross again.
Rebecca Pawellives in New York City and teaches at a Brooklyn high school.
Synopsis
Praise for Rebecca Pawel:
The immediate aftermath of the Spanish Civil War provides the bleak setting for Pawel's stirring first novel. . . . Unsparing in her depiction of the casual brutalities spawned by war, but also offers evidence of the power of little civilities and kindnesses in a novel that easily transcends the formulaic crime story . . . Should get some serious literary attention.-Publishers Weekly, starred
Absolutely riveting . . . Rebecca Pawel's first act of surprising courage is to make her main character not one of the romantic Republicans of folk song and Hemingway story but an officer of their much-hated enemy, the dreaded Guardia Civil.-Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune
Carlos Tejada, newly promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the Guardia Civil, has been transferred to Salamanca, the city where he studied before the Civil War. His new police duties include monitoring parolees, former professors who were fired for protesting a Franco decree.
Elena Fernandez, having lost her job because of her political sympathies, has returned home to Salamanca from Madrid where she and Lieutenant Tejada had first been romantically involved. Her father, one of the parolees, was a distinguished professor of Classics. He has just received a letter from a Jewish friend, Professor Joseph Meyer, begging for help to cross into Spain from France before he is forcibly repatriated to Germany.
Professor Fernandez cannot violate his parole by traveling to the border town of San Sebastian, so Elena goes in his stead. Tejada, tracing a missing parolee, finds himself in San Sebastian, too. There Elena and Tejada's paths fatefully cross again.
Rebecca Pawel lives in New York Cityand teaches at a Brooklyn high school.
About the Author
Rebecca Pawel is twenty-eight years old and a graduate of Columbia University. She lives in New York City and teaches Spanish and English in a Brooklyn high school. She is the author of Death of a Nationalist, Law of Return, and The Watcher in the Pine. Rebecca frequently travels to Spain.