I have just finished The Return, by Victoria Hislop. This is a book with two connected stories. One dealing with a woman called Sonia who loves to dance and goes on holiday to Spain to do so. The other deals with the experiences of the Ramirez family who run a cafe (of which Sonia becomes a regular in the modern day) during the Spanish civil war.
The story about Sonia I did not like. I found it (and Sonia) quite annoying. It was distinctly unconvincing, yet highly predictable, and decidedly unnecessary as far as the second story was concerned. In fact, I really felt it devalued the other story, and the book as a hole. The second story was (as far as I can tell) well researched, it was interesting, held my attention, and taught me a lot about Spain’s history. I was happy to learn as Spain is a country I have never actually been to and one I know very little about. Overall, I really enjoyed this part of the book.
I think it is a shame that the author chose the modern day framing device. The story of the Ramirez family would have stood alone without it, and would have stood with greater strength, I feel. The modern day elements made the whole book feel less realistic and I found it very distracting. As the bulk of the book is focused on the Ramirez family, with Sonia’s story occuring mainly at the beginning and the end of the book, I have to admit that by and large, I enjoyed this book, and in fairness, this is more than I expected from the blurb on the back. But to say so rankles, just a little, as I maintain it would have been a better book had it just focused on the Spanish Civil War story.
