Cry, Mother Spain

Winner of the 2014 Prix Goncourt
A powerful account of the early days of the Spanish Civil War, seen through the eyes of a young girl.

In the summer of 1936, Montse is fifteen years old and her country is on the brink of civil war. Her tiny village in the north east of Spain is a world away from the tensions beginning to overspill in other parts of the country, but when her brother José returns from working in a nearby town, brimming with anarchic zeal, Montse is captivated. Swept away by the fervour of the revolution, caught between love, family and honour, her sheltered life will be abruptly changed forever.

Years later, with her memory almost gone, she is telling her daughter the story of this one dazzling summer - the only one she can remember. Her daughter meanwhile has been reading the anti-Franco pamphlet, Les Grands Cimetières sous la lune by the right-wing novelist, George Bernanos. His revulsion at the Franco regime and the complicity of the Catholic Church, intertwines with Montse's memories, as her story builds to its devastating conclusion.

Powerful and deeply personal, Cry, Mother Spain unites two different experiences of one horrific conflict, making up a complex tapestry of love, faith and revolution.

• Lydie Salvayre is one of the best-known French writers of her generation. Her novels have consistently featured on bestseller lists, won some of France's most prestigious literary prizes, and have been translated into dozens of languages. • Cry, Mother Spain was awarded the 2014 Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary award. • A fascinating fusion of French and Spanish perspectives on the Spanish Civil War, narrated in a vibrant blend of French and Spanish - "Fragnol" - which is preserved within the translation. • Themes of love, faith and exile in the face of brutal totalitarian regimes are likely to especially resonate with readers today, within a context of growing world-wide extremism and the recent rise of right-wing groups in Europe. • For readers of Javier Cercas' bestselling Soldiers of Salamis, Joan Sales Uncertain Glory

'Lydie Salvayre orchestrates her story like a true maestro' - BibliObs

'The great originality of this novel ... is the blending of the universal and personal experiences of the Spanish Civil War' - Figaro

'A turbulent, magnificent novel that shines a new light on the Spanish Civil War. It resonates with the power of a manifesto for modern times' - Express

'Lydie Salvayre has cultivated a resounding anger... Cry, Mother Spain is the novel and the tribute of an impassioned voice' - Libération

'Lydie Salvayre creates a dynamic harmony in a language that elevates grit, heroism and beauty' - Le Monde

'A magnificent novel. A brilliantly written family saga and a mesmerising study of memory and historical reconstruction' - El Mundo

'Lydie Salvayre has written a novel about the Spanish Civil War unlike any other. Her approach gives her story an astonishing power and a unique perspective' - ABC Cultural

'A seriously important novel ... The novel Pasolini would have written had he been the son of Spanish exiles' - Time Out Barcelona