Granada Window

“Happy the reader who makes his first acquaintance of the immortal history of Don Quijote de la Mancha in the country which gave it birth.”

And so begins Marguerite Steen’s compelling and personal account of Spain, the country she would later adopt as her own.

Starting with an insightful examination of Spain’s greatest literary figure, Cervantes, and his enduring classic Don Quixote, Steen explores the uniqueness of Spain’s cultural heritage, from its classic literature to the historical legacy of the Moorish rule.

Grenada Window also takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Spanish region of Andalusia, painting a unique portrait of the Andalusian provinces of Granada and Seville.

Here, Steen describes, in intimate detail, her own experiences with the Andalusian peoples and reflects on the cultural differences between Britain and Spain.

From vivid scenes of bullfighting and flamenco to powerful descriptions of the Andalusian landscape, Grenada Window is a remarkable belle-lettre and historical account of one writer’s enduring love affair with Spain.

Praise for Marguerite Steen

‘Miss Steen is a superb manipulator of scene, and she makes her places as alive as her people’ - Daily Telegraph

‘Rich and enjoyable’ - The Observer

‘fine scenes and piquant portraits’ - The Sunday Times

‘a vivid narrative’ - Manchester Guardian

‘full of colour and character’ - John o' London's Weekly

‘rich, lavish, violent, passionate’ - Evening News

Marguerite Steen (12 May 1894 – 4 August 1975) was a British writer. Very much at home among creative people, she wrote biographies of the Terrys, of her friend Hugh Walpole, of the 18th century poet and actress (and sometime mistress to the Prince of Wales) Mary 'Perdita' Robinson, and of her own lover, the artist Sir William Nicholson. Her first major success was Matador (1934), for which she drew on her love of Spain, and of bullfighting. Also a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic was her massive saga of the slave-trade and Bristol shipping, The Sun Is My Undoing (1941). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1951.