My rating: 5 of 5 stars
First of all, Ruta Sepetys. If we could make her books part of a historical curriculum, I think more students would understand with empathy what the past means to people. In this case, the post Spanish civil war, set in 1957 set the stage for fear, distrust, secrets, and hardships created by the new fascist regime under Franco. But what makes this book far more enthralling is that we see the disparities of the country through the young 18 year old wealthy American eyes of a budding photographer who is falling for a worker in the hotel where his family is staying. And in that relationship and other friends he makes, we learn some true outrages that actually happened in that time period and era. Although to be fair, there are similar atrocities in all countries. Wonderful and insightful book for our library!