Spain in fiction
A regular look at books based in Spain
Historical Fiction :
Mad Dogs and an English Girl - Caroline Waterman
BASED IN 1950s SPAIN
When Caroline Waterman spent a year in Spain in the
1950s she experienced one of the most important periods
in the country's history. While it tried to unite after
the bloody civil war, albeit under a controlled pact of
silence, there was a desperate need for the nation to
move forward into the 20th Century. What this young
woman saw and the people she met had a lasting
impression on her.
Years later she has recreated that age in an amusing and
very readable novel. Complete with her own illustrations
she takes us into Spain on the mail train to Burgos, which
in many ways symbolised what needed to be improved to
allow the country to develop. It was slow and unreliable
yet it carried the people who could make this a powerful
place once again. Her descriptions of that period,
however, do demonstrate just how much has been done in
over fifty years. Her barefoot children contrast with
today's prosperous country, with it's high speed rail
system that is the envy of others.
But what is perhaps more important, for this tale at
least, is the range of warm welcoming people our lead
character encounters. This despite the relics of a
bygone age where men are dominant and women suppressed.
Where oxen were still used to plough the fields, and
where tourism hadn't even been considered. There were
still fears lingering from the recent past, and the
power of Franco was overwhelming.
The story of a girl teaching English against this
background, although fictionalised, gives us an insight
to that period. Her involvement with the families she
met takes us into the warmth of their basic homes and into
the Spanish character.
It's funny, it's moving and it's tragic in equal measure.
It's also sad, in that so many of the genuinely
good experiences she encountered have been lost in that
drive to catch up with the rest of the world.
