Of course,’ the other woman replied patiently. She hated it when her sister-in-law lost her temper. In a village of that size you just couldn’t lose anything, least of all someone as lively as Anna Melody O’Dwyer. But once she’d been gone for hours. We searched those hills, calling for her to the skies. When we found her she was under a tree by a stream, playing with half a dozen fox cubs she’d found. She knew we were looking for her, but she just couldn’t tear herself away from them cubs. They’d lost their mother and she was crying.’ An extraordinary tale of love, desire and forgiveness from the number one bestselling author of Songs of love and War

Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2012-05-29 16:35:20 Boxid IA184801 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City Hodder & Stoughton Donor An enchanting read overflowing with deliciously poignant moments’ DINAH JEFFERIES on Songs of Love and War It might have been a symbol six months ago but it’s a smudge now,’ said Santi, pushing himself up and settling on another bumpy arm of the tree. Er zijn veel personages maar het is zeer gemakkelijk om ze allemaal uit elkaar te houden. Elk apart hebben ze hun eigen karakters en word er ook mooi weergegeven hoe ze leven en hoe ze in het leven staan.This book is the perfect beach read. Set in Tuscany it really makes you think of holidays and sunshine. Dermot O’Dwyer was born and raised in Glengariff, Southern Ireland. He married his childhood sweetheart, Emer Melody, when he was barely old enough to earn a living. But Dermot O’Dwyer always knew what he wanted, and nothing and no one could ever persuade him any different. Much of their courtship had taken place in a ruined abbey that stood at the foot of the Glengariff hills, and it was there that the couple were wed. The abbey had lost most of its roof and in through the gaping holes twisted and turned the greedy fingers of the ivy plant, determined to claim what it hadn’t already destroyed. Yer dear mother loved her garden. Them delphiniums are crying out to be staked, she’d say. No one loved delphiniums like yer mother.’ We were also accompanied to school. Grandpa Solanas had survived a kidnap attempt so my father made sure that in the city we were accompanied everywhere by bodyguards. My mother would have been delighted if they had kidnapped Grandpa O’Dwyer instead of Abuelo Solanas. I doubt they would have paid the ransom for him, though. Mind you, God help the kidnapper who’d be foolish enough to take on Grandpa O’Dwyer!

Podría adentrarme en la trama, que hay mucho que decir y analizar a cada personaje, pero me he dado cuenta que prefiero que de verdad los conozcas y desmenuces a placer cada detalle. Lo que si debo decirte, es que una vez más me ha matado la autora con el juego del papel en la mujer en una época difícil. Sofía brilla por sí sola, pero se hace a sí misma después de todo lo que pasa, María y Anna, incluso Chiquita son mujeres que van marcando un momento en esta historia y que a su vez tienen mucha voz y peso, que me han dejado pasmada. A LA SOMBRA DEL OMBÚ además tiene un final justo, debo admitir que inicialmente dudé cuando iba a la mitad de la obra sospechando alguna cosa, pero cuando llegué a ese final me ha parecido justo y preciso, precioso dejándome satisfecha y feliz por volver a disfrutar de una gran historia. De ombuboom speelt in dit verhaal een grote rol. Hij heeft hen zien opgroeien, hij kent hun pijn, hun liefde, hun plezier. Voor Sofia staat de ombuboom symbool voor een idyllische kindertijd. De boom die haar door alle moeilijke tijden heen had geholpen. In those days, the 1960s, Argentina was ravaged by unemployment and inflation, crime, social unrest and repression, but it hadn’t always been like that. During the early part of the twentieth century Argentina had been a country of vast wealth due to the exportation of meat and wheat, which is where my family had made their fortune. Argentina was the richest country in South America. It was a golden age of abundance and elegance. My grandfather, Hector Solanas, blamed the ruthless dictatorship of President Juan Domingo Perón for the decline, which resulted in Perón’s exile in 1955 when the military intervened. Perón is still as hot a topic of conversation today as he was in the years when he was dictator. He inspires extreme love or extreme hate, but never indifference. Gracie is in her late sixties and has been a widow for almost ten years. While she is at her hairdresser’s she sees a photograph of a place she knew well at one point in her life – a time of her life that she has kept secret for more than 40 years. Something compels her to return and in the process of making her plans, Gracie’s estranged daughter and grand-daughter get involved and her solitary journey becomes a threesome. A contemporary mother daughter novel that largely takes place in Italy and explores lost loves and second chances. Widow Gracie Burton manages to send her entire British village into a tailspin when gossip swirls that she is heading to Italy- ALONE. Feeling the desire to intervene, a gossipy neighbor alerts Gracie's grown daughter to her mother's unsafe plans. At first, Carina, cannot see the point of taking time away from her busy work schedule to figure out her secretive mother. But when her husband points out that Carina doesn't have any type of relationship with their teenage daughter, Carina decides they are heading to Italy. During this week long journey, over food and sunshine filled days, Gracie will reveal to her daughter and granddaughter a tale of love and loss.

What are you going to do with them, Dad?’ she asked suspiciously, narrowing her watery blue eyes and watching him lurch across the grass.

Tonight is the most beautiful night of the summer,’ sighed Sofia from one of the highest boughs of the ombu tree.They’ll be long gone, Maria. They disappear within a year or two I think,’ said Santi knowledgeably. ‘Anyway, you’d need a lot of magic to make Paco let Sofia play in the Copa Santa Catalina.’ And he began to laugh again, holding his stomach with his hands to show how ludicrous her ambitions were to him. Sofia jumped lithely from her branch to his and then ran her hand over his lower belly until he shrieked with pleasure and pain combined.