Maria Duenas – författare

María Dueñas's million copy best-selling tale of adventure, tragedy, love and war, The Seamstress, a Richard and Judy 2012 book club pick.Spain, 1936 and the brink of civil war.Aged twelve, Sira Quiroga was apprenticed to a Madrid dressmaker. As she masters the seamstress'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 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 Nazis-friendly Spain. She is drawn into the shadowy world of espionage, rife with love, intrigue and betrayal. And where the greatest danger lies. . . 'María Dueñas is a true storyteller. Read this book and prepare to be transported' Kate Morton, author of The House at Riverton'A wonderful novel with intrigue, love, mystery and tender, audacious and clean-cut characters' Mario Vargas Llosa'A magnificent novel that flawlessly brings together history and intrigue' Juan Gómez-Jurado, author of The Moses ExpeditionMaría Dueñas holds a PhD in English Philology and is currently a professor at the University of Murcia. She has also taught at American universities, is the author of several academic articles, and has participated in various educational, cultural and editorial projects. She is currently writing her second novel.

The charismatic protagonist from María Dueñas’s international bestseller The Time In Between returns in a sweeping novel of love and intrigue set against the tumultuous aftermath of World War II.Former seamstress turned couturier turned spy Sira Quiroga is finally ready to embrace serenity with her British diplomat husband, Marcus, and the upcoming prospect of motherhood. But tranquility proves elusive. Fate has other plans for Sira.Installed in Jerusalem under the British Mandate, and enmeshed in the murky world of shady operators, political menace, and catastrophic violence, Sira finds her future with Marcus put to the ultimate test. Forced to reinvent herself again, Sira travels to England and adopts a new identity as a journalist dispatched to Spain. But as her skills at cunning duplicity are put into play, the ghosts of her past follow, bent on wreaking havoc in her life.Moving from turbulent Jerusalem and austere London to Franco’s Madrid and colonial Tangier, and peopled with formidable real-life historical figures, Sira cuts an unforgettable path through the danger, stratagems, chaos, and promise of some of the most momentous events of the postwar era.

From the bestselling author of The Time In Between comes a sweeping historical saga of an immigrant’s rags-to-riches journey as she struggles to anchor herself in foreign land across three tumultuous decades.Deeply harrowing circumstances force Cecilia Belmonte to leave her impoverished Spanish village and cross the Mediterranean to settle in Oran, a French Algerian city where she knows no one. She carries stolen identity papers, her body and soul burdened with confusion and pain.Laboring on plantations and in laundries and factories, Cecilia navigates devastating twists of fate as she strives to rebuild a life of her own making. What begins as a modest operation of manufacturing soap with two Spanish refugees soon evolves into a flourishing enterprise. The advent of World War II and the arrival of American soldiers stationed in Algeria will change the course of Cecilia’s life once again—and for years to come.In an emotionally gripping novel of resilience, love, courage, and the heartbreaking loss of home that spans decades, María Dueñas weaves intimate human drama with seismic historical events, creating an unforgettable portrait of a woman who refuses to be broken.

Sira Quiroga bygger upp ett nytt liv utomlands efter att ha flytt från Spanien under inbördeskriget. Mitt i kärlek, svek och överlevnad flätas dåtid och nutid samman, vilket tvingar henne att konfrontera de val som format henne och möjligheten att återvända hem.