"A Code for Sovereigns"
The fossils Sandy Forsyth loves are a wonderful metaphor
for the historical period this novel spans, 1937-1947, in
war-torn Spain. For fossils hold full or partial body
parts in their last colossal, life-death battle. It's a
time full of surprises, when the strong are shown to be
weak and vice versa. Sandy's favorite fossil, a dinosaur's
limb, vividly displays Spain's hopes and
defeats, "...curled, as though the creature had been about
to strike when it died." First, meet Bernie Piper, a graduate of the prestigious
Rookwood School in England, now lying at the foot of a
knoll in the Jarama Valley, Spain in February of 1937.
He's a die-hard socialist, rejecting everything he learned
in school and sharing the fight against the Generalissimo
Franco's fascist followers. It doesn't look like a victory
Bernie will win! Then get to really know Barbara Clare, an ex in so many
ways - ex-Red Cross nurse, ex-lover of Bernie, and
expatriate who is lost in her despair over possibly having
lost Bernie, seeing the Spanish situation corrode into
devastating poverty and death, and being lost in her
relationship with Sandy Forsyth who seems bent on
recreating her in his own image. But Barbara knows more
than she's telling and may have a way to find out if
Bernie is still alive as a prisoner of war in the brutal
prisoner-of-war camps run by the rigid, ultra-Catholic
Republican Guards. Enters Harry Brett, a spy for the British Secret Service.
Harry really doesn't want to be doing this job but is
reluctantly enticed into spying on his old school friend,
Sandy, in Madrid. Harry's recovering from brutal injuries
he received while fighting in Dunkirk, barely over his
posttraumatic panic attacks and barely in possession of
full hearing yet. The pages that follow rivet the reader's
focus in two directions. The convoluted chronology of Spain's political situation
introduces the reader to the powers supporting Franco, the
Republicans and the Communists, all vying for supremacy
and at the same time feeling Hitler's pincer-like approach
ever-looming. Who to trust? Who to support? How to
survive? One clearly sees, after a brief while, that there
are no winners as each group in its fanatical fervor
destroys the land they claim to love. Leaders and
manipulators flourish; the poor and destitute live
parasitical lives in order to get through this horrific
conflict. What Harry eventually discovers, in the second focus of
this novel, is far worse than originally contemplated.
Sandy's involved in something bigger and deadlier than
even he realizes. As one swiftly turns these pages, he or
she is stunned at the breathtaking end in which all bets
are off and the plot unravels in a most unexpected manner
with devastating results. C. J. Sansom, with a well-researched, dynamic
presentation, vividly presents a historical, romantic,
adventurous story in a tightly plotted manner. This story
deserves wide acclaim as a notable blockbuster, portraying
a too often ignored but potent segment of Spain and
England's history and politics. Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on February 9, 2009
Reviewed by Viviane Crystal
Courtesy Crystal Reviews
Posted February 9, 2009
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