![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/PageTurners.jpg?resize=400%2C79\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“The Labyrinth of the Spirits” by Carlos Ruiz Zaf\u00f3n <\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The first few pages of this 500 page novel giving the description of Regina Aeronautica\u2019s bombardment of Barcelona during The Spanish Civil War and the subsequent escape of Alicia Gris, the heroine, was extremely evocative and the brutality of the Franco Fascist era from 1936 until his death in 1975 particularly well written. “The Labyrinth of the Spirits” by Carlos Ruiz Zaf\u00f3n The first few pages of this 500 page novel giving the description of Regina Aeronautica\u2019s bombardment of Barcelona during The Spanish Civil War and the subsequent escape of Alicia Gris, the heroine, was extremely evocative and the brutality of the Franco Fascist era from 1936 until his death in 1975 particularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3zo","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16882,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16882","url_meta":{"origin":13726,"position":0},"title":"“The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th April 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"The Silent Patient\" by Alex Michaelides This month\u2019s book is a compelling psychological thriller that initially drew us in. We felt that the opening half of the novel was particularly strong and well-written. Alicia Berenson\u2019s silence, following the shocking murder of her husband, is a powerful narrative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for May 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for May 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=433"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BookMay-26.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8262,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8262","url_meta":{"origin":13726,"position":1},"title":"Meeting In My Garden!!","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th September 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cTHE PAGE TURNERS\u201d Meeting In My Garden!! Page Turners report..we managed a meeting in my garden!! Changes to lockdown restrictions meant the Page Turners could have an alfresco meeting in a back garden in August. The 3 books read during the lockdown were rapidly reviewed so the main purpose of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15464,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15464","url_meta":{"origin":13726,"position":2},"title":"Dismal Weather Did Not Dampen The Spirits","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th May 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Dismal Weather Did Not Dampen The Spirits d Dismal weather did not dampen the spirits of the walkers at Barry Island. Views across the Channel were limited, but nobody noticed...everyone was too busy chatting!! \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Carers Walk"","block_context":{"text":"Carers Walk","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=362"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture7-1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10567,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10567","url_meta":{"origin":13726,"position":3},"title":"Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin","author":"Alan Williams","date":"19th November 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 OFF THE SHELF This month\u2019s reading was a classic novel written in 1852. Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe was the best-selling novel and the second best-selling book of the 19th century. One million copies were sold in Great Britain alone. The emotive story features Uncle Tom,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5330,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5330","url_meta":{"origin":13726,"position":4},"title":"Lincoln in the Bardo","author":"Alan Williams","date":"23rd December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Lincoln in the Bardo is a 2017 experimental novel by American writer George Saunders. The bulk of the novel, which takes place over the course of one single evening, is set in the bardo: an intermediate space between life and rebirth. The book received widespread critical acclaim and won\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":747,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=747","url_meta":{"origin":13726,"position":5},"title":"The Reluctant Fundamentalist","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mohsin Hamid At a cafe table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man talks with an uneasy American stranger. As the sun moves across the sky and shadows become darker, he begins the tale that brought them to this ominous meeting. This is a first- person novel where the narrator,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13726"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13728,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13726\/revisions\/13728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nThe story is basically a detective novel where Alicia Gris acting as a police agent is commissioned to find Don Valls who has mysteriously disappeared.
\nThe novel is gritty, gripping but at times very dark with several difficult passages of graphic details of gruesome tortures.
\nDespite the fluency of the narrative the writing occasionally becomes rather mundane and the momentum is lost but Zaf\u00f3n soon rectifies these passages by introducing an absorbing twist.
\nApart from two dissenters the group found the tome fascinating and a real page turner with most of the group awarding marks of 9 and 10. The overall mark was 7.
\nThank you must go to our hostess, Jill, who provided us with delicious cake<\/p>\n
\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"