\n\t \n<\/p>\n
\n\tby Maria Duenas<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tAged 12, Sira Quiroga was apprenticed to a Madrid dressmaker. As she masters the seamstresses’s art, her life seems to be clearly mapped out – until she falls passionately in love and flees with her seductive lover. But in Morocco she is betrayed and left penniless. As Civil War engulfs Spain, Sira finds that she cannot return and so turns to her one true skill – and sews beautiful clothes for the expat elite and their German friends. With Europe rumbling towards war, Sira is lured back to Franco’s Nazi friendly Spain. She is drawn into the shadowy world of espionage, intrigue and betrayal.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOpinion was unanimous on five counts – the writing was naïve, the story was predictable, overlong, disjointed (could have been 2 separate stories) and totally implausible when Sira progressed without a qualm from seamstress to spy.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThere were three plus points – it was clever the way the story interwove real characters with fictional ones, the historical research was detailed and enhanced the story, it was a page turner.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMixed feelings, not one of our better reads. A few enjoyed it and would recommend it as an easy read. Most of us didn’t. The score was a 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Maria Duenas Aged 12, Sira Quiroga was apprenticed to a Madrid dressmaker. As she masters the seamstresses’s art, her life seems to be clearly mapped out – until she falls passionately in love and flees with her seductive lover. But in Morocco she is betrayed and left penniless. As Civil War engulfs Spain, Sira finds that she cannot […]<\/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-9T","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14356,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14356","url_meta":{"origin":613,"position":0},"title":"\u201cFast Fashion\u201d","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th June 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"WENVOE FORUM Considering Tomorrow Today \u201cFast Fashion\u201d Some time ago only the very rich could afford fashionable clothing made by a famous designer such as Gabrielle Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent and that to be a skilful seamstress and able to \u201ccopy\u201d the designs was a very useful attribute, though\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Forum"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Forum","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=384"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Picture14.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4085,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4085","url_meta":{"origin":613,"position":1},"title":"The Muse by Jessie Burton","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th December 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Muse by Jessie Burton The Muse is a follow up novel to Jessie Burton\u2019s very successful first novel The Miniaturist, which has previously been reviewed by the Page Turners. The story is told in two timelines and centres on two creatively gifted young women, Olive Schloss an artist in\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":3981,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3981","url_meta":{"origin":613,"position":2},"title":"Christmas Sand Cookies – Spain","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th November 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Christmas Sand Cookies - Spain 1cup butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 2 med eggs 2 cups plain flour 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1\/2 tsp ground cardamom [see Mr Greedy's tip] 1\/4 tsp ground cloves 1\/4 tsp salt Topping- 2 tbsp. golden caster sugar 1\/2 tsp ground cinnamon Cream together\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mr Greedy's Kitchen"","block_context":{"text":"Mr Greedy's Kitchen","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=129"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8007,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8007","url_meta":{"origin":613,"position":3},"title":"Vale For Africa Eyecare Trip 2018","author":"Alan Williams","date":"11th August 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"VALE FOR AFRICA EYECARE TRIP 2018 It was through my work that I first heard of local charity Vale for Africa and of their annual trip to Uganda. Vale for Africa works with a local African charity\/NGO called ACET, to improve healthcare and education in the Tororo district of eastern\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Tororo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Tororo.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Tororo.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Tororo.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13405,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13405","url_meta":{"origin":613,"position":4},"title":"WALKING TO SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th August 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"WALKING THE PORTUGUESE CAMINO FROM PORTO TO SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA \u00a0 The wind was blowing harshly in from the cold Atlantic Sea on my left as we walked north along the deserted beach leaving the historic city of Porto behind us. 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