This intimate family novel that follows the rise and fall of a great
love is also a moving tribute to the generation that struggled to
survive in Spain after the Civil War.
In Open Heart, Elvira Lindo tells the story of her parents--the story
of an excessive love, passionate and unstable, forged through countless
fights and reconciliations, which had a profound effect on their entire
family.
Manuel Lindo came from nothing, but stubbornly worked his way up at the
Dredging and Construction Company. Obliged to move from city to city for
his job, the family couldn't put down roots, and Elvira and her
siblings' childhood was marked by unpredictability. As they pass through
temporary homes, they're caught between Manuel's outsized temper and
their young mother's worsening illness, which would tragically take her
life.
Beginning with nine-year-old Manuel's experience in Madrid in 1939,
Open Heart takes us on a sweeping journey through Spain full of
beautifully observed insights about love in its many forms.