The Fountains of Silence
“Truth breaks the chains of silence…It sets us all free.”
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.”
“Some were desperate to remember and others were desperate to forget.”
I definitely recommend this book to everyone. The Fountains of Silence takes place in Spain during the Franco Dictatorship. It follows the main characters Anna and Daniel. Anna works at a hotel where many tourists come through. She works there to get money for her family which has been struggling during the authoritative rule. She is a young woman living in a society that limits women and marginalizes them. Daniel is visiting Spain with his dad, a high up oil business person. Daniel is just along for the ride and finds himself roaming the city of Madrid photographing things that stick out to him. After many deep observations Daniel becomes concerned about what is going on in Spain. He is staying in the hotel that Anna works at where they form a friendship, which allows Daniel to learn more about the dictatorship and the effects taking place. Together they both find suspicious things going on and both put the dots together learning the dark side of what is going on.
I specifically enjoyed this book because it is a historical fiction book based on real events, so throughout reading the book I felt like I was learning a lot. This book is also very suspenseful and is very hard to put down because of the many layers of mystery within the book. Throughout the book friendship despite differences is a big theme, also standing up while being silenced and controlled is happening all over a country.
