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Winter in Madrid

Author: C.j. Sansom
Publisher: Macmillan
Category: Book

Buy Used: Ł5.98

Used (13) from Ł5.98

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

80 reviews
Sales Rank: 44972

Media: Paperback
Edition: Airside e.
Pages: 200
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 2

ISBN: 0330411985
EAN: 9781405089081
ASIN: 1405089083

Publication Date: January 6, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: In good condition. FAST DELIVERY. Stocked in the UK. Immediate dispatch and delivery is usually 2 - 3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - Winter in Madrid
•	Paperback - Sansom Novel 3(Tpb)

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Customer Reviews: Read 75 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Read this book May 1, 2008
I really enjoyed this. Someone says there is too much 'Histoy' in it but I found that aspect very interesting as I don't know much about the Spanish Civil War and I feel Sansom writes about it in a very available way. I think the story is convicing and compelling, the characters believable and the evocation of the era very well done.

5 out of 5 stars

An excellent novel! April 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This was the first Sansom novel I had read; it was recommended to me by a friend whose judgement I trust, and I found it to be a gripping read. I shall certainly look to read more of his work.

Some other Amazon reviewers clearly disagree, but I thought that the plot line was robust, the main characters all strongly painted, and the atmosphere of wartime Madrid (and the flashbacks to the Civil War period) well evoked. I can't comment on historical accuracy, but from the little I know of the period it was all certainly believable. And the style and writing led me on to read it in long continuous chunks, which was just as well as I read most of it on plane journeys/at airports.

Thoroughly recommended!

5 out of 5 stars

Masterful writing March 10, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Sansom is not strong on good memorable book titles but he's strong on writing style.

For too many decades, there was a `pact of forgetting' concerning the Spanish Civil War atrocities, not least the forced abduction of thousands of children of Republicans; this book is dedicated to their memory.

Madrid, 1940. The Civil War is over and Spain is struggling to recover. While Hitler rampages throughout Europe, Franco maintains Spain's neutrality though he and his government are on friendly terms with their fellow fascists. The British government is understandably concerned about Franco abandoning neutrality. If he should allow the German army into Spain, they would immediately march on Gibraltar and use that stronghold to strangle Allied access to the Mediterranean.

Shell-shocked survivor of Dunkirk, Harry Brett volunteers to become a spy for the Secret Service. The spymasters believe that Harry might prove useful as he knows from his school-days a shady English businessman, Sandy Forsyth, who seems to have the ear of powerful men in Madrid.

Bernie Piper is another of Harry's old school acquaintances. Communist supporting Piper went missing during the war in 1937. Bernie's girlfriend Barbara Clare had been a Red Cross nurse but she's now married to Forsyth and is barely coping with the children in the state orphanages. Then Barbara discovers that Bernie might not be dead, but working in a secret labour camp in the mountains.

The scene is set for several character threads to be intertwined in the traumatised city; indeed, the city itself is almost a living, breathing character thanks to Sansom's ability to evoke a place and time.

The walls of Madrid had ears after the war. Neighbour against neighbour. It only took a few words of denunciation to have you carted off to a labour camp or even shot. Harry found love with the tragic Sofia, another victim of the war. He also helped Barbara search for her ex-lover Bernie while she deceived her husband Sandy. And Sandy was not above deception either.

Every character, no matter how minor, rings true in this book. You feel what they feel. The action scenes are few but they're depicted with great verve and you're there with the protagonists, so vital is the writing.

Sansom captures the deprivation and ugliness of modern post-war urban living. It's squalid and grim, especially in winter. This is an authoritative piece of writing, combining the elements of a thriller, a romance and an historical drama. The political chicanery, the ideological imperatives and the treacherous double-crosses seem very believable in Sansom's hands.

These 500-odd pages are turned very quickly because you want to know what happens next and the last few chapters are tense and suspenseful. After any conflict, there are survivors and they carry the scars for the rest of their lives. The surviving characters in this book are scarred by politicians as much as the violent men with guns.

2 out of 5 stars

Historically slightly interesting, but otherwise.... January 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I kept reading all the way through to the end of this, simply because I didn't know much about the Spanish civil war. If you already have a certain knowledge of the war, I don't think you'll find much of interest here. Sansom is a decent writer, but I'm not sure he should be writing fiction. He does an ok job of giving us some insight on the different fractions of the war. But mainly this is obviously meant to be a book about people - their emotions and their faith. Secondly it's also a sort of crime novel, and I think Sansom fails at both aspects. He doesn't manage to give you much of an emotional involvement in the characters. There are several tragic incidents during the story, but as a reader I don't really feel like I care. I don't feel any kind of attachment to the people in the book. Especially the main character - Harry - suffers from a total lack of personality. He's just nice (and boring). A few times he has some kind of outrage - at least that's what the writer tells us. But this episodes aren't very believable, and they seem to be restricted to one sentence or statement from Harry. Afterwards there is no indication his usual state of mind has been altered....
As for the "crime story", it just doesn't hold water. He doesn't manage to build up much excitement as we go along, and the little there is, is totally ruined by the lack of logic towards the end. Sansom introduces a couple of "surprise twists" in the last part of the story. And they are kind of surprising - considering they make absolutely no sense at all. I'm not gonna ruin the story for you, but suffice to say people turn up where you don't expect them to turn up. And when Sansom tries to explain why they turn up it - as already stated - makes absolutely no sense!
If you want a quick introduction to the Spanish civil war, this might not be your worst choice. But skip the ending, and don't expect any emotional involvement.

5 out of 5 stars

When I began January 9, 2008
When I began this book I knew little concerning the Spanish Civil War, nor its aftermath. Though this novel only expands this very slightly it does however wet the appetite for further knowledge. This is obviously appreciated by the author who leaves a bibliography at the rear with a small commentary upon each. The book set in the period after the Spanish Civil War and during the Second World War,involves 3 ex-school acquaintences who through varying reasons find themselves in Spain.
At first the novel is slow going,as the author introduces each main player and their particular nuances. They each interact at varying times and to differing degrees with Barbara Clare.It isthrough her that the story is really linked together and why (in agreement with another reviewer) it would make a very good film. As the book builds to its climax so the pace quickens and there is a good twist at the end!! I'd also highly recommend reading Tino Georgiou's bestselling novel--The Fates--if you missed it!