The Seamstress discussion

a wonderful book, complex,exciting, and to my surprise many of the characters
were real people.
This author is a master of her trade,I look forward to reading other samples of her work.
The two leading ladies in this novel are well drawn and hold your interest.
It would make a wonderful film.
Read it for yourself and like me enjoy every moment of it.

The good news - it's been made into a tv series. The bad news - it's in Spanish. Sorry! But I'm sure if it's successful, Hollywood would eventually jump on the bandwagon.

I loved the book wih its exotic amosphere, beautiful characters and it also enlightened me on part of history that was interesting for me.
I look forward to read other books from the same author!

Jean wrote: "a wonderful book, complex,exciting, and to my surprise many of the characters
were real people.
This author is a master of her trade,I look forward to reading other samples of her work.
The two le..."

María Dueñas editó a principios de año su nueva novela "Misión Olvido". Se desarrolla en California.
Dice María Dueñas en la contraportada: Tres años después de la publicación de El tiempo entre costuras, vuelvo a llamar a las puertas de los lectores con la historia y la voz de una mujer. Una mujer contemporánea cuya estabilidad aparentemente invulnerable ha saltado de pronto por los aires. Se llama Blanca Perea y ha decidido huir.

Alguien ha leido 'Dime quien eres' de Julia Navarro? He empezado en 'El tiempo entre costuras' y me parece tan similar, que no sé o quiero seguir esta historia...Hay diferencia? En k?

Somebody read 'Tell me who I am' by Julia Navarro? I started in 'The seamstress', but the stories are so much alike, that I don't know if I want to keep on reading...Will there be any difference? Where, in what?

And how is 'Mision olvido'?

De lezer wrote: "Alguien ha leido 'Dime quien eres' de Julia Navarro? He empezado en 'El tiempo entre costuras' y me parece tan similar, que no sé o quiero seguir esta historia...Hay diferencia? En k?

Somebody rea..."
La única similitud que yo encuentro entre "Dime quién soy" y "El tiempo entre costuras" es la época histórica en que ambas están ambientadas. Son ficciones muy diferentes y, a mi parecer, El tiempo entre costuras resulta más intimista y -esto ya es una opinión muy personal- con un estilo más cuidado y mucho más "verosímil".
Misión Olvido no se parece en su trama a ninguna de las dos. Cuenta la historia de una investigadora española contratada por una universidad californiana para trabajar en el legado de un profesor español establecido en Estados Unidos ya fallecido.

Gracias Luis por tu reacción! Yo veo bastante similtudes en los personajes y la historia. Como la protagonista tiene tantos amantes de diferentes clases sociales, ideas y al final son la razón por la cual ella decide de formar parte del servicio secreto. No sé. Quizá la mejor idea sea de empezar con Misión Olvido.

De lezer wrote: "Gracias Luis por tu reacción! Yo veo bastante similtudes en los personajes y la historia. Como la protagonista tiene tantos amantes de diferentes clases sociales, ideas y al final son la razón por ..."

No hay de qué, De Lezer. Aunque yo le daría una oportunidad a "Entre costuras", te entretendrá. Un saludo.

There's a thing called subtitles, you can still watch the tv series ;)

Simon wrote: "The good news - it's been made into a tv series. The bad news - it's in Spanish. Sorry! But I'm sure if it's successful, Hollywood would eventually jump on the bandwagon."

Do you know what the name of the series is? Is it available in the US (in Spanish is fine)--I would love to see it!

Mision Olvido is called The Heart has its Reasons in English. I can't wait to read it!

Christy wrote: "Simon wrote: "The good news - it's been made into a tv series. The bad news - it's in Spanish. Sorry! But I'm sure if it's successful, Hollywood would eventually jump on the bandwagon."

Do you kno..."

I believe it is called El Tiempo Entre Costuras.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly: it also includes a part of my country´s history did i did not know of, so it was a plus.It´s very well written, it´s gripping and at the same time, very emotional and fast-paced.

Maria wrote: "Christy wrote: "Simon wrote: "The good news - it's been made into a tv series. The bad news - it's in Spanish. Sorry! But I'm sure if it's successful, Hollywood would eventually jump on the bandwag..."

Que bueno. Muchas gracias, Maria. A ver si lo encuentro...

Christy wrote: "Que bueno. Muchas gracias, Maria. A ver si lo encuentro/i>

Oh, you are about to find it. I saw it not long ago, but they butchered a bit when the dubbed it in portuguese instead of of just putting subtitles.

Btw i am not spanish, although i understand what you wrote - i am portuguese.

Maria wrote: "Christy wrote: "Que bueno. Muchas gracias, Maria. A ver si lo encuentro/i>

Oh, you are about to find it. I saw it not long ago, but they butchered a bit when the dubbed it in portuguese instead of..."

Oh, very cool. My husband is Portuguese--from Madeira, and my in-laws live in Algarve. I see now what you meant when you said "my country" as so much of the action takes place in Lisboa. Nice to "meet" you, Maria. :-)

I found the site for the series on Antena3, but I don't think you can watch it from there. Does anyone know a place where you can watch it on line?

Sorry, forgot to add it. Here's the site: http://www.antena3.com/series/el-tiem...

Badger wrote: "Sorry, forgot to add it. Here's the site: http://www.antena3.com/series/el-tiem..."

It looks like you can watch it as soon as you register. I didn't register, but so far they're not saying anything about paying, it looks like they just want to keep track of who is watching.

Christy,
I tried to register but then it said I had to pay but there was no way to. it could be bcs I am in the US and access it from here. I may have to wait to get it on DVD from Spain. There are clips on YouTube; looks good

Christy wrote: "Maria wrote: "Christy wrote: "Que bueno. Muchas gracias, Maria. A ver si lo encuentro/i>

Oh, you are about to find it. I saw it not long ago, but they butchered a bit when the dubbed it in portugu..."

Nice to meet you too, Christy!

It seems that there´s a portuguese in every corner of the world.

Yes, Lisboa was, during the WWII a very important "spy" center - very important people met in different hotels, to discuss businesss and politics and above all, spy on each other. The fact that we seemed to be neutral (because in fact, we weren´t) was very appealing for high politians, Mi5 agents, CIA agents, etc to meet in here, in this sunny corner of the world.

Badger wrote: "Christy,
I tried to register but then it said I had to pay but there was no way to. it could be bcs I am in the US and access it from here. I may have to wait to get it on DVD from Spain. There are..."

Okay, I haven't tried it yet either, but I am going to look and if I find anything that we can access here in the US, I'll certainly post. Thanks!

Maria wrote: "Christy wrote: "Maria wrote: "Christy wrote: "Que bueno. Muchas gracias, Maria. A ver si lo encuentro/i>

Oh, you are about to find it. I saw it not long ago, but they butchered a bit when the dubb..."

I didn't realize that Portugal wasn't neutral! This is so interesting! That makes complete sense! Thanks for sharing! :-)

Christy wrote: "I didn't realize that Portugal wasn't neutral! This is so interesting! That makes complete sense! Thanks for sharing! :-)

Oh the neutrality was very much talked about and asserted by Salazar, our counsil president (in fact dictator) but in reality he was in close contact with german authorities, italian, almost all dictatorships in Europe, but all very hush-hush: we were supposed to be siding with the allies, England the 1st and foremost and most ancient ally. You see, he was about to seel tungsten, a metal that was much in need to suply Hitler´s armies.
He delayed the decisions the allies asked him to do, he post-boned the most that he could until he saw that Hitler and his new order was not going to happen - then he suddenly became very pro-activ with the allies.
He waited to see who was about to win and sided wtih the winners.

The end result was that our men and country was spared of the war.

Maria wrote: "Christy wrote: "I didn't realize that Portugal wasn't neutral! This is so interesting! That makes complete sense! Thanks for sharing! :-)

Oh the neutrality was very much talked about and asserted..."

Oh, wow. So Maria Duenias was right about what she wrote, how cool! I love historical fiction! I'm glad that the men were spared from being in the war, but having a dictator kept Portugal back, just like Spain's dictator did too. I'm glad the war ended before Salazar could supply Germany--that would have been terrible.

Christy wrote: Oh, wow. So Maria Duenias was right about what she wrote, how cool! I love historical fiction! I'm glad that the men were spared from being in the war, but having a dictator kept Portugal back, just like Spain's dictator did too. I'm glad the war ended before Salazar could supply Germany--that would have been terrible.


Yes, it set us back some 30 years, in comparison to the rest of the world. France was bombarded hard, but with the money from the Marshall plan, it was able to re-built and flourish; there are other examples. The good thing? Men didn´t went to the war front and died, like in the IWW, in Flanders. The downside? Dictatorship for around 40 years and the consequent set-backs.
Maria Dueñas was very accurate in her story-telling. But not many people (portuguese) realize how close we were to be governed in a III reich kind of style and that, deep down, we were about to become part of German war effort.

Yes, if they would have been able to sell the tungsten to Germany, who knows what might have happened?

I live in Ronda, Spain, where Beigbeder was supposedly kept under house arrest, although I don't know whose house - it certainly wasn't his. Not such a bad fate, since Ronda is one of Spain's most beautiful towns, in the mountains of Andalucia. House arrest would also be better than being locked in the prison cell located in the central archway of the 100 metre high bridge that spans the gorge running through the town. The view would be spectacular, but the Civil Guard were known to occasionally offer prisoners a closer look at the rocks below. The cactus wouldn't make the landing any more comfortable, either.
I mention a bit more about the varied and interesting history of Ronda in my blog post about ghosts, strangely enough, since over the centuries there are bound to be many restless spirits there.
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

Simon wrote: "I live in Ronda, Spain, where Beigbeder was supposedly kept under house arrest, although I don't know whose house - it certainly wasn't his. Not such a bad fate, since Ronda is one of Spain's most ..."

Simon, this is awesome and I loved your blog post too. Thanks so much for sharing! I lived in Leon for 5 years and in Bilbao for 6, and never had anything like this happen, but you are right, with all the history in the country, you just never know. Have you read any of Toti Martinez de Lezea's books? The one called La Herbolera talks a lot about the Pagan ways of the past--historical fiction and very well researched and interesting.

Estoy disfrutando mucho con vuestros comentarios, Christy, María y Simon. Disculpad que escriba en español pero, mi actividad lingüística en este momento es escribir en español y me cuesta mucho pensar y escribir en inglés. Querría aportar mi granito de arena a esta conversación con algo curioso que contó la autora, María Dueñas. Ella, al iniciar su fase de documentación para la novela, pensó en escribir sobre dos personajes: Beigbeder y Rosalinda Powell Fox, cuya trayectoria era lo suficientemente atractiva para cualquier narración, dos personalidades muy originales para la época. Beigbeder fue, en un principio, germanófilo (fue agregado en la embajada española en Berlín durante la República, antes de ser nombrado Delegado de asuntos indígenas en Marruecos), pero gradualmente volvió sus simpatías hacia Inglaterra —quién sabe si por la influencia de Rosalinda Fox— y esa anglofilia fue determinante en su cese como ministro de Exteriores y su posterior confinamiento domiciliario en Ronda. Pese a haber conspirado contra la dictadura a favor de una restauración monárquica, fue rehabilitado e incluso se encargó de una misión ante el presidente Roosvelt para limar asperezas con las potencias vendedoras de la segunda gran guerra. Disculpad de nuevo que escriba en español pero, como sé que me entendéis, agradezco vuestra benevolencia.
Saludos

I am not about to write in portuguese or either none of you would understand.

But Luis, the supposed mission that Maria Duenas wrote that Roosevelt gave Beigbeder was true? That is so interesting! Undoubtly, WWII was much more played and gained on the backstages rather than in the war front.

I am glad that she introduced a fiction character, that made the real character´s shine. Sira was a very good fictional character, in my opinion. and all of the research seemed very well donne, very thourough.

Maria wrote: "I am not about to write in portuguese or either none of you would understand.

But Luis, the supposed mission that Maria Duenas wrote that Roosevelt gave Beigbeder was true? That is so interesting!..."

No. María Dueñas did not write about that mission. It is true that the Spanish government commissioned Beigbeder mission to Roosevelt.
The inclusion of real characters (Beigbeder, Fox, etc..) in the novel I think it gives more strength to the fictional characters. A success of Dueñas, in my opinion, is to play with the characters respecting historical facts without prosecute. (Sorry for my bad language).

Luis wrote: "Maria wrote: "I am not about to write in portuguese or either none of you would understand.

But Luis, the supposed mission that Maria Duenas wrote that Roosevelt gave Beigbeder was true? That is s..."

Yes, very interesting, you're both right, Luis and Maria. Luis, thanks for sharing, I think Maria and I have no problems reading the Spanish, so do what makes you most comfortable. I need to read more Spanish anyway, I get 'vaga' and read mostly in English except for authors who have not been translated. I wish I would have read Maria Duenias in Spanish--translations always leave things out. The only Spanish I read are Toti Martinez de Lezea and Laura Gallego Garcia. But yes, the inclusion of the real characters made the book very interesting.

I had the sense that she somehow surfaced the subject about Beigbeder being in touch with the US, but not going in much deeper - i seem to remember that in Spain, they thought it were rumours, since Beigbeder was politicaly finished, how could he be of any use to the US?

Yes, the inclusion of real characters makes the story stronger - and, as i´ve said before, her research of the time and persons seemed very complete.

Christy wrote: "Luis wrote: "Maria wrote: "I am not about to write in portuguese or either none of you would understand.

But Luis, the supposed mission that Maria Duenas wrote that Roosevelt gave Beigbeder was tr..."

Since you like historical fiction there is another Spanish author of which i have been hearing very nice things - Matilde Asensi (sorry for the spelling).

Enjoying the chatter about this book (in both English and Spanish) and look forward to looking up Matilde Asensi...

Maria wrote: "Christy wrote: "Luis wrote: "Maria wrote: "I am not about to write in portuguese or either none of you would understand.

But Luis, the supposed mission that Maria Duenas wrote that Roosevelt gave ..."

I see Matilde Asensi has several--any in particular that you recommend to begin with? :-)

If you get a chance to see the tv series, apparently the outfits created by Sira are gorgeous - they had a really good costume designer on the production crew. (With twin two y.o. girls we don't get to watch the tv apart from Peppa Pig!) Along with the clothes and the main character being a woman, (refreshing to see) it's understandable that it's become a hit with the female market.

I did like the character of Rosalind Fox, who was a real-life person. What was amazing was her strength in the face of suffering "deadly" bovine tuberculosis. She got fed up with being confined to bed, put on her glad rags and got on with life, living until 96. Churchill supposedly commented that she had an important part in the direction of the war. The fact that she converted Beigbeder from being a Germanophile to becoming aligned with the Allies, shows that intelligence and reasoning can go so much further in resolving conflict than always resorting to violence. I think her story would make a fascinating movie.

Another book, if you're interested in that period, is Winter in Madrid, by C J Sansom. Not as glamorous, particularly as it shows the crushing poverty resulting from Franco's regime, but it does have a love triangle, although the main character is a man.

I did enjoy the movie Night Train to Lisbon, showing life under the Portuguese dictatorship, enlightening me on their history, with a marvellous performance by Jeremy Irons. I'd be interested to hear your view of it, Maria.

Simon wrote: "If you get a chance to see the tv series, apparently the outfits created by Sira are gorgeous - they had a really good costume designer on the production crew. (With twin two y.o. girls we don't ge..."

I am very sorry - and ashamed to say - that i have not read or seen the movie Night Train to Lisbon - Jeremy Irons is always marvelous!But it will surely be in both my lists to see and read.
I have a few recomendations of movies and pictures that illustrate life under the dictatorship, but i am not sure if they all are in English, as they mostly are portuguese productions.

As for other recomentations i would say Carlos Ruiz Zaffon - not particularly a spy story, but a very good story - somewhat supernatural - setted during the Spanish Civil War. Shadow of the Wind of The Angel´s Game are awesome!

I have Winter in Madrid in my shelf, waiting to be read - thanks for the heads-up!

Christy wrote: "Maria wrote: "Christy wrote: "Luis wrote: "Maria wrote: "I am not about to write in portuguese or either none of you would understand.

But Luis, the supposed mission that Maria Duenas wrote that R..."

I would say

My uncle was one of those spies. Just as he was embarking on a promising career as a professor of Spanish history and literature at Oxford university, he was invited by MI5, in no uncertain terms, to work for them. Under the ruse of field trips to Spain with his students, he would take useful photos to get an idea of the direction Franco's regime was taking. Unfortunately, on one of these trips he was spotted by a Guardia Civil, who asked him what he was taking photos of. The film revealed nothing remotely related to history or literature, if not troops, tanks and a couple of warships. He was to be hauled up before a firing squad, but Franco actually intervened and let him off, but not before warning him to leave the country immediately. I remember seeing an old postcard sent from Portugal dated in the '30's, with a brief message, (not being able to say much), about having to leave Spain because the situation wasn't good.
His other exciting mission was to escort the Duke and Duchess of Windsor through Lisbon to the Bahamas during the Second World War, with orders supposedly to shoot them if they decided to defect to the Germans, (Edward was accused of having Nazi sympathies).
After the war, he was the head of Spanish and Portuguese studies at Oxford from 1953 - 81. Among some of his important works were, "Don Quixote as a Funny Book", challenging the more dour interpretations of Cervantes' work, and "Prince Henry the Navigator: a life".
It seems a cliché for an MI5 spy, but with striking looks and piercing blue-grey eyes, he was widely regarded as one of the most handsome men at Oxford.
Peter changed his last name, Wheeler, and adopted his mother's maiden name. Sir Peter Russell even made an appearance as one of the main characters in Javier Marías' important literary trilogy, Tu Rostro Mañana.
I wish I knew more about him - his life would make a fascinating story.

Simon, that´s one very interesting life story! As you know, probably from this uncle, that Lisbon was a very important passageway for people that wanted to escape the war, spies, politians - remember Casablanca? - and all sorts of important people that had a saying on how to control war. There are some hotels in Lisbon that were full of people spying on each other - i think the name was Imperio, but i´m not sure; The Palace and The Casino, in Cascais, as Maria Dueñas described were also part of that. And the Spanish Royal family took refuge here, during those troubled years of dictatorship - King Juan Carlos of Spain, who is about to abdicate on his son, lived in Cascais and Sintra.

There is book by a portuguese author that explores the Duke of Windsor´s supposed simpathies towards the Nazis. If i find it, i will post the link. I saw a doc on it, on History channel and the feeling i had was that he never had real or strong convictions about Hitler or the likes; maybe he saw a bit of an opportunity to help his country and be an embassador, to reconcile, of not loosing all importance (sence he abdicated), but deep down, he just wanted to be a jet-setter and enjoy his marriage to Wallis - that was my conclusion. He didn´t felt strong about allies or Germans.

Simon wrote: "My uncle was one of those spies. Just as he was embarking on a promising career as a professor of Spanish history and literature at Oxford university, he was invited by MI5, in no uncertain terms, ..."

How interesting, Simon! I think this alone would be enough for a book, leaving it with a mysterious ending...

Christy wrote: "Simon wrote: "The good news - it's been made into a tv series. The bad news - it's in Spanish. Sorry! But I'm sure if it's successful, Hollywood would eventually jump on the bandwagon."

Do you kno..." It is available in the usa at dramafever.com ( with english subtitles).

Badger wrote: "I found the site for the series on Antena3, but I don't think you can watch it from there. Does anyone know a place where you can watch it on line?"

dramafever.com