Encarnita's Journey by Joan Lingard
The renowned children's author successfully turns her hand to adult literary fiction. It is 1920 and the beautiful village of Yegen, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, awakens to a new year. The wild flowers, poppies, lavender, rosemary and thyme fill the air with their enchanting scent as the setting sun streaks vivid bands of pink and purple across the sky. For years Yegen's small community has continued in its own quiet way, knowing little of the outside world. But the arrival of Gerald Brenan, the British writer, and his string of artistic and literary visitors, brings a new excitement to the sultry town. But Gerald is not the only new arrival; in a dusty stable a child is born. With her dark hair and wide, soot-black eyes, the young Encarnita was as beautiful as she was serious. Growing up in Yegen, with the reflective Virginia Woolf, witty Lytton Strachey and other Bloomsbury group friends of Don Geraldo visiting the village regularly, Encarnita learned many stories. But after the passing of eighty years and many miles, there is still one tale left to tell...Exquisitely written, "Encarnita's Journey" is a tale as beautiful as its Spanish setting, with touches of true insight into the lives of its literati cast and dark-eyed heroine. Accompany Encarnita from Yegen to Scotland's bustling capital, and be filled with wonder every step of the way.