Secrets at dawn

NOVEL. PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, 2021. 428 PAGES

Gijón, Spain, 1956. María de la Paz Noriega is determined to uncover the secret origins of her father, Bruno Noriega. All she has to go on is an old note from the civil war. Her quest for the truth will take her to the city of Burgos and into the walls of a remote convent lost among the mountains where a strange woman begins to tell a tale. A journalist tormented by his past decides to help her and together they dig deep into a time of battles, concentration camps and intrigue. Neither knows that no one is truly who they say they are or that what they find will change them forever.
War can cause abrupt ruptures in one's life, turning it upside down overnight, without warning. When it's all over the pain causes deep silences that exacerbate the resulting emotional rifts and loss. Children of war bravely feel compelled to restore memories and heal souls for the sake of their parents but also for themselves, so they can live their lives to the full and meet their destiny head on.
Gabriela Exilart returns to the setting of In The Sands of Gijón to tell us the story of three families riven by the scars of the Spanish Civil War. In Secrets at Dawn, following painstaking research into both major events and everyday details, she shows why she is one of the most talented and prolific writers in Latin America.

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