The place to find past issues of the Your Next Book newsletter
– my take on some of the outstanding writing on my bookshelf

This is a deeply shocking story on many levels. The plot itself is decidedly unnerving. The psychological strain on Rosa, Maria and Lily leaps off the page. The power invested in men reminds the reader of The Handmaid’s Tale. But this is Spain a hundred years ago. The depths of poverty, the hard scrabble life of even those with land and housing, like Catalina’s family, is hard to imagine. But you will imagine it because Patricia Román is so good at leading you there.