‘Diagonal’ is a brilliant debut filled with rich and vibrant fictionalised stories of historical figures associated with the Spanish Civil War. Historical fiction is a favourite of mine, and this one did not disappoint. This is an area of history I didn’t know much about, but that is why I picked it up. There is nothing more satisfying than reading an entertaining book but also learning new things at the same time!

Alicia Green is an artist and furniture maker who ends up dying in the opening days of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Ninety years later, Rick Gabriel finds one of her sketchbooks in a flea market in Barcelona. He begins to unpick her life around that time, whilst the reader hears also from Alicia and her growth into a passionate young woman. It soon becomes apparent that there is a mystery around her death, one that Rick is determined to solve…

Alicia (or Felicia Brown) is a figure that I could become obsessed with. The interwar period was my speciality at university, and it was pioneers like her that piqued my interest. The author has done a fabulous job in bringing Alicia to life, and it is clear that he has done a lot of research on the topic. Due to this, there is such a sense of authenticity and as if you are reading an account of ‘actual’ history, rather than a fictionalised narrative. I would have liked a tad more reasoning for why Alicia decided this was her path, as it was very unusual that a woman of her station would be involved in the communist/anti fascist movement.

This was an excellent debut, and the historical aspects were amazing, the characters especially well formed, and the story was very engaging. I flew through this in a day and could have read on happily if the book was longer. I have now become a tad interested in Alicia’s home in London, the ‘Lawn Road flats’, and might even start researching into it!

This is a book which deserves to get noticed. Let me know if you pick it up!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for an unbiased review.

I live in Barcelona, so I will read any novel about my city!

Synopsis: Based loosely on a real British person who came down to Barcelona to fight the fascists in the Spanish Civil War, the story takes place in alternating time periods. A modern-day London art gallery owner discovers a lesser-known British artist's sketchbook at Encants Flea Market in Barcelona, and tries to unravel the mystery of her death; the artist's life and death is recounted in alternating chapters. It's akin to George Orwell's classic memoir "Homage to Catalonia," but fiction.

I give props to Buckley for having such an extensively researched novel- for example, in the first chapter, he wrote very correct walking directions from the Cathedral to the (now Movistar) building on Portal de l'Àngel. Additionally, he incorporated real Catalan Civil War heroes into the narrative- Buenaventura Durruti and Lluis Companys, for example. These are not people I've ever seen novelized in English-language fiction. And it's a welcome change to see a novel about the Spanish Civil War, rather than YET ANOTHER WWII historical fiction novel, from the perspective of a British person (though this book is ALSO from a British person's perspective, oh well).

What didn't work for me: The pacing of this novel was very, very off. Frankly, the British white male drug addict/pathetic gallery owner protagonist was almost a distraction from the narrative, and made the story drag. IMHO a fictionalized novel about Alicia, the artist, would have been far superior. And with the dueling timelines, there are just too many characters to keep track of: In modern-day London, we have the gallery owner, his ex-wife, his gallery partner, his gallery partner's niece and brother, and all of the gallery owner's acquaintances he encounters as he unravels Alicia's story. And the climax was just too pat for me.

I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if I weren't a Barcelona resident. Regardless, it's a good debut effort.