Historical fiction is powerful. It has the power to inspire the readers to dig deeper into a part of history they had not learned about or understood in a certain way. When we learn parts of history we didn’t know, we have an obligation to be better, to do better. The Fountains of Silence is one such book for me.
I have to be honest, I had very little knowledge of Spanish history. None, actually, and if I learned it in school, I didn’t remember much about it. Lately, I have been reading books on WWII (The War that Saved my life), the Cold War (A Night Divided), and now life after the Spanish Civil War (The Fountains of Silence). I find it fascinating to see how these timelines fall into place one behind the other. Almost like a domino effect.
Will we stand up when we see evil or we bury our heads in the sand? Will we call out injustice when we see it? May we not say that would never happen, it’s too awful. If I have learned one thing, it’s that the worst awful you can imagine exists. We cannot bury our heads and pretend it’s not happening.
If you have read The Fountains of Silence I would love to hear your thoughts on it. How has it inspired you? Did you learn anything you didn’t know? Did it inspire you to dig deeper into history to learn more?