The Fountains of Silence is a gorgeously written historical fiction novel set in 1957 in Madrid. It tells the story of an aspiring American photojournalist, son of an American oil tycoon, visiting for the summer and hoping to connect with his mother's Spanish roots. He meets Ana, who works at the hotel he and his family are staying at. Through Ana, he gets to see a side of Spain that he might not be exposed to otherwise- one that Spain's fascist dictator, General Francisco Franco, is trying to hide.
The story is told from multiple perspectives and incorporates vintage media reports, oral history commentary, photos, etc. I enjoyed how it all worked together to convey the multifaceted nature of the time period and the different ways that different were impacted. This novel could have been hundreds of pages longer and I would have kept reading, I was that engrossed. Ruta Sepetys just has such a beautiful writing style and does a wonderful job of developing the settings and characters. This is only the second novel by Ruta Sepetys that I've picked up, but I will absolutely be adding her other novels to my TBR list!
The story is told from multiple perspectives and incorporates vintage media reports, oral history commentary, photos, etc. I enjoyed how it all worked together to convey the multifaceted nature of the time period and the different ways that different were impacted. This novel could have been hundreds of pages longer and I would have kept reading, I was that engrossed. Ruta Sepetys just has such a beautiful writing style and does a wonderful job of developing the settings and characters. This is only the second novel by Ruta Sepetys that I've picked up, but I will absolutely be adding her other novels to my TBR list!