Ruta Sepetys dives into the dark history of Spain in her latest book, 'The Fountains of Silence.' Find out more about the inspiration behind her historical fiction novel here.
All of my books are published in Spain, and when I would tour there, the Spanish readers showed such empathy and compassion for the hidden history in my novels. When I asked them about their own country’s history, they told me,"Oh, it’s too difficult for an outsider to understand." They said,"Ruta, it’s just too painful." And that broke my heart.
There's also the question of what right do we have to history other than our own? Here I am, a Lithuanian-American. Do I have the right to write about Spain’s history? That’s what inspired me to write from the viewpoint of an outsider, an American in Spain. It took seven years going back and forth to Madrid, renting an apartment, walking the path that I thought my characters would walk, and spending time there, speaking to true witnesses and survivors.
Some people might be fearful that I write books that are so sad and tragic, but I also work really hard to weave in notes of hope. I’ve found, from studying history for so many years now and writing these historical novels, that sometimes it’s in our most broken moments that we have an opportunity to find ourselves.
When we read about underrepresented characters like the ones in the story, they become human. And that’s such a valuable lesson. Behind these headlines and these chapters in history books, these are human beings.Oh, I love this question! There’s a character in the book, Carlitos a.k.a. “Buttons,” who’s the bell boy at the hotel. He’s only 12 years old, and in Spain in the '50s, kids started working when they were 12. He knows everything that’s going on at the hotel.
, which is also historical. It’s about five young spies who are embedded in the highest Nazi ranks in occupied Paris, and it’s super compelling.
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