The Seamstress by Maria Duenas
His kiss was so intense, so carnal, so prolonged that my body was startled by it, ready to melt and be transformed into a puddle of honey.
This wonderfully exciting story is set during the Spanish civil war and moves into the second world war. Duenas spent some time researching the period thoroughly and she has successfully managed to integrate historical characters such as Franco, Beigbeder and Serrand Suner into a compelling fictional novel about a young seamstress known as Sira which chronicles more than six turbulent years in which her mettle is tested and she develops a resilience and courage to outwit adversity. An incredible transformation from a naive 12 year old living in the poorer quarters of Madrid with many constraints placed on her, fatherless, growing into a wiser, self-assured woman with determination to succeed as a business woman.
Within the novel, the protagonist Sira proves a testimony to bravery and determination. By the end of this epic novel, she feels more in control of her life, no longer allowing herself to be manipulated like a puppet or like someone moving a pawn on a chessboard. People are NOT political pawns.
In the early days her life seems mapped out-apprenticed as a seamstress which she describes as her logical fate. Her talent was soon recognised by the owner Dona Manuela Godina and Sira's "greatest joy" was in taking the finished garments to exclusive residences in Madrid where Sira witnessed lavish and affluent surroundings, trappings of wealth which contrasted sharply with the poverty that surrounded her. She refers to it as the "incongruity" that existed in society.
The reader is made to feel that Sira will yearn for life's riches too once she becomes an accomplished seamstress owning her own atelier and dressing wealthy European women which in fact is what will eventually happen.
Ignacio was the first man in her life and because Sira was unambitious and without any professional expectations, girls like her had few options other than getting married, settling down and having children. She did feel intense affection and described him as "sweetly gentle as a pillow" but she had not discovered passion until her engagement and imminent wedding. It was in the shape of seductive and alluring Ramiro Arribas that she tasted the forbidden fruit.
Their first meeting is sensual and evokes passion. Sira was unaware that he was scrutinising her body:
"He had absorbed the outlines of my body and the slow cadence of each of my movements."
She is naive and still chaste although she recognises the dangerous signs when she compares him to a wolf that scented food or danger in the way he imposed himself on her. His caresses gave her goosebumps and she felt on the "threshold of paradise" but simultaneously and worryingly perhaps heading towards the "slaughterhouse?" She became so obsessed with his powerful seduction that instead of opting for comfortable domesticity she chose to launch herself into the void out of desire, nothing more.
He desired me, he revered me and clung to me as though my body were the only mooring in the turbulent oscillations of his existence.
Unbounded love is how Sira describes it.
When the political situation is about to explode, Sira and Ramiro relocate to Morocco. It is March 1936. Amidst the height of their passion, Sira's soul becomes battered and an unscrupulous con man emerges, one who can disappear and reinvent himself to take advantage of other unsuspecting victims like Sira. She is left devastated during those penurious times:
useless, unfit to face life, unable to survive.
Candelaria Ballesteros known as the Matutera offers a sanctuary followed by a dangerous plan to escape from their poverty trap and salvation. But everything comes with a price. A heavy one.
The story then takes on a different dimension with espionage: Discreet campaigns of resistance, Observing, Infiltrating, Obtaining informationand strengthening a network of underground collaboration. The civil war divided and destroyed the peninsular causing starvation, broken families, mistrust, suspicion and people prepared to sell their souls to the devil to survive and feed their already emaciated and helpless families. It gave the Germans and British an opportunity to exploit and infiltrate into political activities. Some of this was achieved by undercover agents acting as spies.
What are the options for a metamorphosed Sira to continue surviving and surviving well? Should she play with fire and get mixed up with espionage, throw caution to the wind?
Yes, she certainly grows up and learns to profit from this dirty art of war but she compromises her integrity and risks her life. Once the story moves from Morocco to Madrid then Lisbon you will find it riveting and it ends on a sentimentally, romantic note!
Publishers: Penguin. ISBN: 978-0-670-92003-7
COPYRIGHT 2013. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this review is reproduced.
This wonderfully exciting story is set during the Spanish civil war and moves into the second world war. Duenas spent some time researching the period thoroughly and she has successfully managed to integrate historical characters such as Franco, Beigbeder and Serrand Suner into a compelling fictional novel about a young seamstress known as Sira which chronicles more than six turbulent years in which her mettle is tested and she develops a resilience and courage to outwit adversity. An incredible transformation from a naive 12 year old living in the poorer quarters of Madrid with many constraints placed on her, fatherless, growing into a wiser, self-assured woman with determination to succeed as a business woman.
Within the novel, the protagonist Sira proves a testimony to bravery and determination. By the end of this epic novel, she feels more in control of her life, no longer allowing herself to be manipulated like a puppet or like someone moving a pawn on a chessboard. People are NOT political pawns.
In the early days her life seems mapped out-apprenticed as a seamstress which she describes as her logical fate. Her talent was soon recognised by the owner Dona Manuela Godina and Sira's "greatest joy" was in taking the finished garments to exclusive residences in Madrid where Sira witnessed lavish and affluent surroundings, trappings of wealth which contrasted sharply with the poverty that surrounded her. She refers to it as the "incongruity" that existed in society.
The reader is made to feel that Sira will yearn for life's riches too once she becomes an accomplished seamstress owning her own atelier and dressing wealthy European women which in fact is what will eventually happen.
Ignacio was the first man in her life and because Sira was unambitious and without any professional expectations, girls like her had few options other than getting married, settling down and having children. She did feel intense affection and described him as "sweetly gentle as a pillow" but she had not discovered passion until her engagement and imminent wedding. It was in the shape of seductive and alluring Ramiro Arribas that she tasted the forbidden fruit.
Their first meeting is sensual and evokes passion. Sira was unaware that he was scrutinising her body:
"He had absorbed the outlines of my body and the slow cadence of each of my movements."
She is naive and still chaste although she recognises the dangerous signs when she compares him to a wolf that scented food or danger in the way he imposed himself on her. His caresses gave her goosebumps and she felt on the "threshold of paradise" but simultaneously and worryingly perhaps heading towards the "slaughterhouse?" She became so obsessed with his powerful seduction that instead of opting for comfortable domesticity she chose to launch herself into the void out of desire, nothing more.
He desired me, he revered me and clung to me as though my body were the only mooring in the turbulent oscillations of his existence.
Unbounded love is how Sira describes it.
When the political situation is about to explode, Sira and Ramiro relocate to Morocco. It is March 1936. Amidst the height of their passion, Sira's soul becomes battered and an unscrupulous con man emerges, one who can disappear and reinvent himself to take advantage of other unsuspecting victims like Sira. She is left devastated during those penurious times:
useless, unfit to face life, unable to survive.
Candelaria Ballesteros known as the Matutera offers a sanctuary followed by a dangerous plan to escape from their poverty trap and salvation. But everything comes with a price. A heavy one.
The story then takes on a different dimension with espionage: Discreet campaigns of resistance, Observing, Infiltrating, Obtaining informationand strengthening a network of underground collaboration. The civil war divided and destroyed the peninsular causing starvation, broken families, mistrust, suspicion and people prepared to sell their souls to the devil to survive and feed their already emaciated and helpless families. It gave the Germans and British an opportunity to exploit and infiltrate into political activities. Some of this was achieved by undercover agents acting as spies.
What are the options for a metamorphosed Sira to continue surviving and surviving well? Should she play with fire and get mixed up with espionage, throw caution to the wind?
Yes, she certainly grows up and learns to profit from this dirty art of war but she compromises her integrity and risks her life. Once the story moves from Morocco to Madrid then Lisbon you will find it riveting and it ends on a sentimentally, romantic note!
Publishers: Penguin. ISBN: 978-0-670-92003-7
COPYRIGHT 2013. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this review is reproduced.
Quentin Cope. Writer.
ReplyDeleteQuentin emailed this comment and he has given me permission to include it here:
You have a first class turn of phrase and a unique way of summing up the content of a book into a suitable hook without giving away the depth of the story line. I particularly like:
His caresses gave her goosebumps and she felt on the "threshold of paradise" but simultaneously and worryingly perhaps heading towards the "slaughterhouse?"
Thank you Quentin. This book I enjoyed reading and commenting on.It is very long and took a while to read. The second reading was smoother. I am looking forward to reading Maria Duenas's second novel which has just been published.
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