Product Description

1940: The Spanish Civil War is over, and Madrid lies ruined, its people starving, while the Germans continue their relentless march through Europe. Britain now stands alone while General Franco considers whether to abandon neutrality and enter the war.

Into this uncertain world comes Harry Brett: a traumatised veteran of Dunkirk turned reluctant spy for the British Secret Service. Sent to gain the confidence of old schoolfriend Sandy Forsyth, now a shady Madrid businessman, Harry finds himself involved in a dangerous game – and surrounded by memories. Meanwhile Sandy’s girlfriend, ex-Red Cross nurse Barbara Clare, is engaged on a secret mission of her own – to find her former lover Bernie Piper, a passionate Communist in the International Brigades, who vanished on the bloody battlefields of the Jarama.

In a vivid and haunting depiction of wartime Spain, Winter in Madrid is an intimate and compelling tale which offers a remarkable sense of history unfolding, and the profound impact of impossible choices.

‘Sansom adroitly draws the disparate strands of his ambitious saga together. His non-pareil evocations of time and place anchor his characters with satisfying precision’ Independent

'Few authors have the ability, or capacity for research, which allows them to capture the mood and atmosphere of a period in history, so when one does, and does it as well as CJ Sansom in Winter in Madrid, then they deserve not only praise but success.' Tony Galvin, Dublin Evening Herald

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76788 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-16
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 6
• Binding: Audio CD

Observer Review
'This multilayered novel is up there with Greene and Le
Carre...the narration is masterful.'

Daily Express
'A stunner.'

Culture, Sunday Times
'Simon Russell Beale delivers a committed and nuanced
performance...nail-biting tension is racheted up.'

Customer Reviews

A complex and rewarding thriller
This is an excellent novel, with convincing characters and a feeling of authenticity about the conditions in Madrid following the Civil War. The story line itself is excellent and exciting, with many parallel threads developing to a conclusion full of suspense and drama. It is both spy novel, and also a love story, but also has great historical interest, showing the situation in Europe at the time, with the risk of Spain allying with the Germans against Britain, and the efforts of British diplomats to avoid this by subtle relationship building with key people in the Spanish government.

I am surprised that an earlier reviewer found the characters stereotyped for I found them totally convincing. Yes, they are people of their time, but their characters are picked out in fine detail and the reader can empathise with them with little difficulty.

The author has conducted meticulous research into the history of the Spanish Civil War and its effects on the various classes of people in Spain. The book shows the great divisions in Spain following the war, and the bitter wounds caused to family and social relationships by the polarisation of the nation into two different sides. I can set this book alongside the very best works of Sebastian Faulkes, John le Carré, Alain Furst etc. This is a very fine book, with a strong story line set in a convincing portrait of Madrid in 1941. Well worth reading.

An oscar-winning movie waiting to happen I suspect.
A top-notch novel I thoroughly recommend. As usual the author has real skill at creating a sense of time and place and the language is faultless. What makes this one so enjoyable is that the characters he creates (there are quite a few leading characters in this novel) fit into their place and time so well. It's a common fault in historical novels that modern characters with modern morals are set uncomfortably in a historical landscape - not so here, it all gels to make a thoroughly believable yarn and you'll learn a lot about Franco's Spain and Britain's efforts to keep him from joining forces with Hitler and Mussolini during WWII into the bargain, the history is always good, pretty accurate and vividly recounted. This would make a great movie with lots of juicy parts for a good cast to grapple with!

First rate historical fiction
Firstly I must make the point that on the hardback of this book Amazon has it listed as a 200 page novel, this is a little off the mark… This is a 500 page door stop and not one to take lightly!

Shockingly, Winter in Madrid is set in… Wait for it… Any minute now…

Madrid!

Don't worry I haven't given anything away that will spoil your enjoyment of this book and if anything I am simplifying the setting somewhat. This book stretches from the relative normality of Cambridge and Harrow – to Harry’s childhood school Rockwood in the Sussex countryside all the way through to The Jarama Valley in Spain during the Spanish civil war and a war torn London during the Second World War.

However, back to Senor Brett (aka Harry).

Harry is a dependable sort – good in school and knows his place in life. Not the sort to rock the boat or cause offence. Harry is also one to do his duty and duly accepts a request for help when the family of a lost school friend ask him to help find their son. You see Harry is a borne linguist and speaks Spanish fluently – his friend Bernie Piper is a true believer in Communism and has gone to fight in the Spanish Civil war – believe dead his family want to know what truly happened.

Again when the call comes some years later Harry doesn't shirk his responsibility and goes to the front line, fighting in the war; this is when Harry goes through a pivotal moment that reshapes his whole existence – Dunkirk. Returning from the front line as an injured soldier – prone to panic attacks and a slight deafness – rules Harry out of helping in the war effort. Or does it…

The secret services come calling asking Harry to train as a spy – another old Rockwood friend – Sandy Forsyth is into something big in Spain, can Harry find out what it is before it is too late?

This is the third C.J. Sansom book after Dissolution and Dark Fire – both excellent novels. This one isn't a follow on from that series – that I believe is due later in the year – but it does share the excellent traits of those two books. All three are set around a historical backdrop that truly pulls the reader in, immersing them into the sights, smells and sounds of the time. There is a thoroughly interesting historically note at the end of the books which shows how the author has sculpted the story around the surrounding in which he is describing.

The truly wonderful element to this book is how he manages to maintain historical settings without making the fictionally narrative turgid or staid – a marvellous feat. You really feel for the characters even though you mightn't particularly like them – I can't imagine Harry nor Barbara (Clare – ex girlfriend of Bernie and current wife of Sandy) being wonderful people to have a drink with for example.

Overall another wonderful novel, I can't impress quite how much I enjoyed this – 5 stars without question.