I love historical fiction but the market seems to be flooded with WWII novels, so it’s wonderful to see a novel set post WWII in Spain, which had its own political upheaval years later. I read historical fiction to give me a glimpse of what life was like in another time, as well as another culture and with enough history mixed in to make me then want to go off afterward researching more about the time and place. I enjoyed Sepetys’ previous novels so was excited to see she has a new one coming out, and after reading the excerpt, it looks like another great book. What makes this one especially interesting to me is that my daughter leaves in a week for a college semester in Madrid, so reading this novel will provide a nice backdrop for the recent history of Spain and the culture she will soon be immersing herself in.