Winter in Madrid

A special 10th anniversary edition of the standalone bestseller, Winter in Madrid, by the author of the much-loved Shardlake series, C. J. Sansom.1940: The Spanish Civil War is over, and Madrid lies ruined, its people starving, while the Germans continue their relentless march through Europe. Britain now stands alone while General Franco considers whether to abandon neutrality and enter the war. Into this uncertain world comes Harry Brett: a traumatized veteran of Dunkirk turned reluctant spy for the British Secret Service. Sent to gain the confidence of old school friend Sandy Forsyth, now a shady Madrid businessman, Harry finds himself involved in a dangerous game – and surrounded by memories. Meanwhile Sandy's girlfriend, ex-Red Cross nurse Barbara Clare, is engaged in a secret mission of her own – to find her former lover Bernie Piper, a passionate Communist in the International Brigades, who vanished on the bloody battlefields of the Jarama. In a vivid and haunting depiction of wartime Spain, Winter in Madrid by C. J. Sansom is an intimate and compelling tale which offers a remarkable sense of history unfolding, and the profound impact of impossible choices.

Sansom adroitly draws the disparate strands of his ambitious saga together. His non-pareil evocations of time and place anchor his characters with satisfying precision, An unsentimental and utterly fascinating portrait of Spain in 1940 . . . Sansom wears his research lightly and gets right under the skin of his characters. The result is a tense, literate page-turner, full of twists, authentic detail and real pathos, a superb achievement, A convincing and moving historical novel, which is also an exciting thriller . . . Sansom has a good eye for detail that brings the time alive, Thoroughly researched, convincingly evocative and solidly entertaining, Sansom triumphs as he unravels the tissues of lies and deceptions . . . a gripping, readable story

C. J. Sansom was educated at Birmingham University, where he took a BA and then a PhD in history. After working in a variety of jobs, he retrained as a solicitor and practised in Sussex, until becoming a full-time writer. Winter in Madrid is his third novel. His other titles include Dominion and the Shardlake series. He lives in Sussex.

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