A dual timeline historical saga.
This book is written so well and I was so engrossed and invested in the story
The characters are so wholesome and well rounded
Fantastic book

Very different style of writing for this author. I’m a bit torn. At times it seemed to be dragging on but I liked the basis of the story- just wanted it to move a bit faster.

The Spanish Girl is a slow paced story with plenty of detailed descriptions. The story of The Spanish Girl is emotionally powerful, and draws you in immediately with the prologue.
The plot involves 2 main female leads, Isabella and her mother, Sofia. The reader sees a mix of their timelines as the story progresses you learn more, that keeps your interest.
I like how Hayes has given an insight into the history behind the Spanish Civil War, with the additional blend of the personal and political interests of the characters. I did noticed a few typos.
The character development of The Spanish Girl is good. For me, Isabella was difficult to get a read on. Rafael is completely enamoured with Isabella for the moment they both meet. As secrets about Isabella's parents come to light the reader see a different side to Isabella emerge, which only adds to the tension of the entire story.
I would recommend reading The Spanish Girl to lovers of Historical Fiction, as it takes the reader on a quest for the truth surrounding two women divided by the decades between them.

As I’m sure you’re all aware by now, I LOVE historical fiction and I definitely judge a book by it’s cover. With that in mind I was really torn over whether to go for this book. It’s historical fiction, dual timeline which I love but that cover just didn’t do it for me. It just didn’t look as though the book was going to have any excitement in it. It looked like the sort of book my nan would read, and that’s not a good thing.

Thankfully, I decided to give it a try, and I’m so glad that I did!

I’m ashamed to say that the Spanish Civil War is something that I knew absolutely nothing about, however, I found its portrayal within The Spanish Girl absolutely fascinating. I really appreciated the way that the book not only showed what life was like during the civil war but also in the aftermath of Franco’s death in the mid-70’s. This isn’t to say that this is a book just about war. It’s not. It’s a book about people, how they’re affected by war, it’s about love, bonding and families. However, it’s also about how life is torn apart by war.

This book was beautifully written with both storylines having plenty of twists and turns, secrets and lies. I was hooked from page 1 and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

An immersive and enthralling tale of love and loyalty from a terrific storyteller, Jules Hayes’ The Spanish Girl is a wonderfully sweeping and evocative novel perfect for Kate Morton and Lucinda Riley fans.

As a journalist, Isabella is well used to untangling other people’s secrets yet those of her family continue to remain shrouded in mystery. Isabella has never managed to discover the truth about the skeletons hidden deep inside her family’s closet, but when she is forced to escape from a dangerous assignment in the turbulent Basque country, her entire life is turned on its head not just by a dangerous attraction to handsome Rafael, but also by a new clue that could lead her ever closer to discovering the long-held secrets that have lain hidden in the family vault for decades. Isabella is desperate to get the bottom of the many mysteries of her family, but is she ready for what her quest for the truth will uncover?

Isabella’s determination leads her all the way to the terrifying days of the Spanish Civil War where she unearths a tangled tale of grief, vengeance and desire that has had repercussions right down to the present day. Isabella had always thought that she was the feisty one in her family, but her search for answers leads her to the story of a passionately patriotic Spanish girl who was willing to go to any lengths for her beloved country and to a young British rebel who had captured her heart. As the lines between the past and the present begin to blur, Isabella finds herself wondering whether wartime secrets should be left undisturbed -and whether she can trust the man who has come to mean everything to her…

Jules Hayes’ The Spanish Girl is a haunting, poignant and spellbinding tale that is simply unforgettable. A beautifully written novel where history is brought to stunning life, The Spanish Girl is a story about family secrets, dangerous desire and the sacrifices we make where I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Jules Hayes describes the action, terror and jeopardy of the Spanish Civil War so vividly that readers will feel every single emotion her characters go through.

A superbly told love story that will stay with readers long after they’ve read the last page, The Spanish Girl heralds the arrival of a terrific new voice: Jules Hayes.

Fascism’s long shadows

r/suggestmeabook: I want to follow an orphaned daughter’s search for her mother who disappeared during the Spanish Civil War.

From the publisher: Feisty journalist Isabella has never known the truth about her family. Escaping from a dangerous assignment in the turbulent Basque country, she finds her world turned upside down, firstly by her irresistible attraction to the mysterious Rafael, and then by a new clue to her own past. As she begins to unravel the tangled story of her identity, Isabella uncovers a story of passion, betrayal and loss that reaches back to the dark days of Spain’s civil war—when a passionate Spanish girl risked everything for her country, and for the young British rebel who captured her heart.

The first thing that comes to mind for me when the Spanish Civil War is mentioned is Pan’s Labyrinth. [1] Yes, it’s a fable, and, yes, it actually takes place after Franco won, but the protagonist’s stepfather so vividly portrayed the brutality under a veneer of sophistication, and the story’s so rife with the undercurrents of the recent conflict, that images from the movie invariably conflate with whatever else I read on the subject. So it’s not surprising that the odious stepfather was cast as the various villains in my mental production of The Spanish Girl by Jules Hayes.

I’m generally a fan of dual or multiple timelines, and this novel has one set in 1976 and one in 1937. I ultimately liked having both periods, but at about a third of the way through, I wasn’t sure why the later one was bothered with. I’m not sure if it would have been aided by cutting between the two sooner or more frequently; I just know that I didn’t particularly care if we got back to the one in 1976 after the 1937 Spanish Civil War scenes started.

Part of that was because I had a hard time buying the instalove Isabella has for Rafael, perhaps because most of his alleged attractiveness is mediated by Isabella telling us about the attraction rather than making him charming and seductive through his actions. For example, he persists in calling her “querida,” a term of endearment, having only met her a scant time before and despite her request that he stop it, making me find him less than attractive. And in the beginning, that romance and a lot of re-iteration of how much Isabella wanted to know about her mom seemed to be the only justification for the framing of it. And, I suppose, the ability to weigh in on the consequences of the Franco regime, particularly during, but also after the war.

So if you start the book and have that feeling, don’t give up on it after you find out the story about the Spanish Civil War; there is, eventually, some payoff for the inclusion of Isabella in the story. I still find the first timeline more compelling, but it didn’t bother me when I found out where it was going. I think, though, I would have preferred to read a more developed version of Sofia’s story than both of them.

Alternatively, I would have liked more info about the “other victims” that are vaguely referenced in the story. The White Terror killed somewhere between 160,000-200,000 and no one knows how many victims of rape, torture, and oppression. Like most countries recovering from fascist regimes, the new government is ready to move on rather than deal with the legacy of those insidious political ideologies, and Hayes does a good job of bringing that reluctance (at best) and whitewashing (more frequently) into the limelight. But the magnitude of the tragedy is harder to discern, although it’s clear that Hayes has done the research and is aware of it.
The plot, however, is quite good, and although I suspected most of the eventual outcome of events, I was not ever completely sure I was correct until the author revealed those plot points. One of the distractions (I’m not sure that it was meant to be a red herring) was that the “young British rebel” referred to in the publisher’s synopsis is named Jack Hayes, which you probably already realize shares a last name with the author (although I now believe it’s a pseudonym). So I kept wondering if this was a family history that Hayes the author was fictionalizing, and wondering when that was going to become obvious. It seems a petty complaint, but it took me out of the flow of the story, and I wish that the author had chosen a different name for the character.

As long as I’m bringing up petty complaints, I really dislike the way the book is captioned on Amazon (US, UK, Canada, and Australia): “The Spanish Girl: A completely gripping and heartbreaking historical novel.” It’s like someone getting ready to tell you a story at work and starting it with “This is soooo funny.” It almost never is. Let me decide if it’s completely gripping and heartbreaking, and don’t tell me that in the title. If I’d come across the book that way, I’d have done a hard pass.

This book does deal with some serious trauma, and there are moments that are sad, although I didn’t find them as heartbreaking as whoever wrote the header. I never got completely vested in the characters, and I’m not completely sure why. However, my favorite character was Jack Hayes, and it’s because my view of him was based on his actions and attitudes, not because a narrator told me how great he was, that I rather suspect my lack of connectedness with most of the characters was for the same reason I wasn’t enamored with Rafael.

I objected a little to the characterization of the villainous Severino Herrera; the word “instability”is most frequently used, and sometimes “madness.” These descriptions come up regularly before Herrera actually appeared, and I expected someone with wild mood swings or a tenuous grip on reality. Instead, we have a remorseless sadist who hungered for power. Although this can be a pathological psychiatric state, it’s not really unstable—he seems to be consistently nasty, and the frequent references to Isabella’s godfather as an effective protector would seem to indicate that Herrera is quite capable of reining in his instincts in a rational manner. If I were to characterize anyone as unstable, it would be Joe Hayes, Jack’s duplicitous brother.

Despite those criticisms, I did find it a…well, “pleasant” isn’t really the word for a book about a traumatic civil war, although I suppose it could be applied to the love story…well told mystery of a woman’s disappearance in a period that deserves far more attention than it gets.

This is a book that features some fascinating times in history, and that alone grabs your attention right away. Add to the mix, some characters who show extreme determination and fortitude and you find yourself living their lives with them, and sharing their passions and despair about things they uncover, and wondering whether finding out the truth will bring them the resolution they desire.

Set mostly in Spain, we follow the story over 2 time periods that are full of rebellion and conflict. Isabella has always wondered about her mother and when she finds someone who knows more about them, she is immediately eager to learn about the history and what her mother was involved with.

I loved the periods of history featured in this story - both of which I knew very little about but it has led me to start reading up to learn more. In Isabella, we have a character who has a very driven personality and shows no fear when faced with trouble and the more we learn about her, the more we know where she gets that trait from!

And as we follow the story from 1937, we hear of Sofia and Jack and how their paths crossed in extraordinary circumstances and the devastating and dramatic impact of those fighting the good fight. There are some very harrowing stories retold and it brings home the ugliness of war, of differences of 'opinion' and the human cost.

This was an epic tale that I couldn't put down once I'd started it! You get totally absorbed in the drama and the extraordinary characters you meet along the way.

The Spanish Grl by Jules Hayes is a historical novel that highlights some fascinating periods of history. Ones which I don't really know anything about, that alone grabbed me right away.
Set mainly in Spain and over two periods, the Spanish Civil War and just after Franco's death in 1976, both times being times of rebellion and conflict. Isabella has always wondered about her mother and when she meets someone who knows more about her, she is over the moon to be able to discover her mothers history and everything she did.
The story slips back to 1937 and we learn of Sofia and Jack, how they met in extraordinary circumstances. We also learn of the devastating and dramatic impact of the people who were fighting for their rights and their beliefs. It made me very aware of the impact of war and how differences of opinion can cause total devastation in some ways and the actual cost in human lifes. There are some brutal truths in the story that brought this home to me.
I have previously read Jules Hayes work and all I can say is, this author really knows how to draw you in, she can create a story so powerful that you are unable to just read, you become a part of that story too. As we learn of Sofia you can see where Isabella's very driven character and her fearless approach to discovering the facts about her mother are inherited from.
A story about families and the search for the truth and identity. Jules Hayes has blended the personal with the political and arrived at a compelling and poignant story that highlights a dark period of Spanish history that has been reseached so well, with believable characters that are vibrant against the backdrops of the time periods involved.
Thank you to Rachel's Random Resources, NetGalley and Orion Dash for the copy of the book.

A gripping and emotionally charged story, set in Spain, in a dual timeline - in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and in Franco's Spain of 1973, both turbulent and difficult times.

Two stories unfold, moving back and forward in time, as we discover the wartime secrets. The evocation of the Spanish history is expertly drawn and compelling. Hayes explores the politics and individual lives which are intricately interwoven with the power struggles and political designs.

The Spanish Girl is a story of love and loss, family secrets and identity. It is a passionate, original tale, tightly plotted and absorbing. Impeccably researched, it's a historical novel of remarkable storytelling.

Fans of historical fiction will certainly not be disappointed with this one! Beautifully written and compelling to read, ‘The Spanish Girl’ is a tale of the tragedy of war, long lost love and hidden secrets.

Set across a dual timeline, the author expertly weaves the two storylines together creating a spellbinding tale that is hard to put down. While there is a strong political theme throughout, events from both the Spanish Civil War and after Franco’s death in the mid-1970s are depicted in a way that is easily accessible to the reader. The relationships that develop between the central characters are explored with feeling and it is easy to become drawn into their emotions as events around them threaten to take over.

A stunning, epic novel that should be on every bookshelf!

I didn't think I was going to enjoy The Spanish Girl as much as I did; I found it a little hard to get into at first but once I did I was completely enthralled. I was so captivated by the story that it made me cry at a particular heartbreaking and poignant moment and if that's not an indicator of a good book, I don't know what is!

The dual timeline of 1937 and 1976 works beautifully as both storylines are interlinked and I was equally fascinated by both. Rather than time flicking back and forth in alternate chapters, Jules Hayes has chosen to group together a good chunk of chapters for each timeline and this really works well. I felt it helped me to get to know the characters better and made them more memorable when the timeline changed.

Jules Hayes's writing is incredibly authentic, although a little too much at times with a lot of Spanish phrases (followed by translations) but as I don't speak a word of Spanish, they ended up being slightly redundant, although appreciated, words in the prose for me. I also know very little about Spain's civil war and the Franco regime but the details in the book certainly felt very historically accurate to me.

It may be an era that is often written about but I've never read wartime fiction set in Spain and the effect of war is no less devastating. The descriptive and emotive writing completely overwhelmed me at times as I was so immersed in the book that I felt as if I was actually there; I could hear the drone of planes overhead and the whistle of bombs as they were dropped. It's absolutely stunning writing from Jules Hayes.

Poignant, immersive and compelling, The Spanish Girl is an impressive piece of historical fiction; it's beautifully written and highly recommended.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

The book opens in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War with a dramatic prologue in which a young boy witnesses a shocking event that will have consequences for decades to come. It’s then fast forward to May 1976 and Franco’s Spain as journalist Isabella Adame travels to interview Rafael Daguerre, a prominent Basque separatist. Initially, Isabella finds Rafael rude, arrogant and obstinately self-assured but, as we learned from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, first impressions are not always accurate – or are they?

Isabella’s role as a campaigning journalist is seeking answers to questions and trying to discover the truth so it’s ironic that she’s living with so many unanswered questions about her own life, such as the mystery surrounding the disappearance of her birth mother, Sofia, and the identity of her father. It’s resulted in Isabella becoming rather guarded, with few friends and a life which has become, in her own words, a ‘monotone mosaic’. The only people who mean anything to her are Calida and Aurelio who adopted her when she was a baby, fleeing from Spain to France during the height of the Civil War. For all these reasons, it’s not surprising that she is intrigued when Rafael reveals a link to her mother. From that point on, the book alternates between Isabella’s search for the truth and events during the Spanish Civil War.

As the story unfolds, the reader is immersed in the complex politics and history of Spain both during the Civil War through the introduction of another storyline which will see a rivalry develop that will ultimately split a family, and later through events during the Franco regime. Indeed, the author has her characters witness dramatic events such as the notorious bombing of the city of Guernica that left many dead and had a lasting impact on the people of Spain. “The hostility that existed all over Spain, between families that had once lived peacefully together, and friends who couldn’t trust each other anymore.”

As a counterbalance to the horror, throughout the book the author uses opportunities to evoke the spirit of Spain – its culture, food, landscape and music. A scene that stood out for me was Isabella, inspired by traditional guitar playing, performing flamenco during which she feels ‘nothing existed only the thumping beat, the raw energy, the infinity of music’.

I can’t say much more about how the story unfolds for fear of spoilers, except that I’m not sure I could be as forgiving as Isabella is to some of the characters when the truth of what they knew – and when – is finally revealed. Isabella’s story exposes the guilt that can linger for things done or not done, the burning desire for answers and the need to belong.

The Spanish Girl is an absorbing story of secrets and lies, love, loss and betrayal.

This dual timeline novel explores two tragic and turbulent times in Spanish history through the eyes of the people who lived through them. Two love stories echo the other in many ways. Family, love, loss and forgiveness are predominant themes in this politically astute story.

The setting and time periods are the ones that affected Spain and drew the attention and interference of the wider world. This is an emotional story, the political struggles, in both of the timelines, were personal to the people living through them, and the writing reflects this.

Believable and vibrant characters give life to familial relationships and friendships. It's immersive and insightful, evoking all the reader's senses, so they feel part of it.

The poignant but positive ending is a perfect conclusion.

I received a copy of this book from Orion Dash via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Historical Novel! Spain! So excited!

Okay, first of all, for those that don't know and are reading this review, I'm from Portugal. Spain is our sibling country. We have a lot of history together. And although we do have some similar things in common we are definitely not the same. Yet, in school, we learned about some events that happened involving Portugal and Spain.

Honestly, I don't think I have read a book, an historical fiction novel, about Spain back then, that made me as excited as this book. And, although I don't know a lot about the entire history of Spain, and my memory wasn't clear about the era in this novel, a recent time in history, I was still very fascinated, and I felt transported not just to the location, but back in time.

Although Rafael is the name of my brother and grandpa, written the same way, and that's always weird to my brain at first... I loved the names of the characters. Actually, I loved the characters. I loved that we have a family dynamic and secrets. I love that we have romance and follow two stories separated by decades. I loved the characters development and their interactions; they were believable to me.

I also loved the theme. I love the way the social and cultural aspect appeared in a way. As well as the political situation. I loved the flow the story had because it gave me time to absorb every moment and every scene and information.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was quite a good surprise, not that I doubted the story or that I would like it. Yet, I was surprised by the connection I felt, by the love and sense of "finding the truth and who we are" that exist. I always love stories that have those elements because I can sometimes see myself in the characters, no matter their background story and the social, cultural, political, or family situations.

[I want to thank Rachel, at Rachel’s Random Resources, Jules Hayes for the ebook, via Netgalley. Thank you for allowing me to join in the fun and being a part of the blog tour with my honest review of the book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.]

I am hooked on anything related to Spain and so requested this book as soon as I found it on the Rachel0s Random Resources website. I was so happy to find space on the tour for the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Spanish history in my Spanish classes at school so I was eager to read this.

Isabella is one of the main characters and the book is a poignant book about the history and political events of the time.

After Franco's death in 1975, we see what Spain was like and also in a different time frame during the Spanish Civil War.

It is very richly detailed in setting and character experiences, and I felt for Isabella and her plight. It also has very romantic parts.

I was curious that it was set in the Basque Country (País Vasco in Spanish) because I know something of history of the conflicts there.

The writing is interesting and atmospheric. The events of the time are well portrayed, thought out and researched. I felt like I built on what I knew about Spanish history and culture and I came away satisfied with the novel.

Thanks to Jules Hayes, Rachel's Random Resources and Boldwood Books for my ARRC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

4 stars.

I was given a free copy of this book to review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Spanish Girl was just an okay read for me. There were only maybe 2 parts in the entire book that grabbed my attention. There's not really much I can say about it other than I was bored throughout most of the book. It wasn't for me but I think others who enjoy slower historical fiction would enjoy it.

With that said I do think this book has a lot to offer other readers. If you are interested in historical romance you would probably enjoy this.

This was a fascinating and engaging read. I really enjoyed the backdrop to this story as my knowledge of the Spanish Civil War was very limited so it was refreshing and enlightening. The story itself is dual timeline and I found myself equally engrossed with both, moving easily between one and the other. It's a fabulous story of love, loss, loyalty and bravery and one I'd recommend for fans of dual timeline women's fiction.

A wonderfully complex yet easy to read novel that grabs you from the off. I've read many a novel about the civil war in Spain but this had a nice edge to it and an added level of mystery.
The author has clearly done her research and blends it well into the story. So many interesting characters and many are based on real life ones. There's intrigue and mystery and plenty of suspense.

I didn't feel the title really reflected the seriousness and importance of the book. This is no romcom or 'fun read' by any means.

Detailed and interesting and it got me really thinking about events in 1930s Spain