The Return Quotes
"The expression on her sensual face was one of pure concentration and her eyes looked into some other world that only she could see."
"Flamenco clearly had little to do with happiness."
"They did not need to talk. For now, the crisp sound of their feet on the cobbles, percussive like the claps and castanets of the flamenco dancers, was more pleasing than the human voice."
"She was brimming - that was the only way she could describe it to herself - and without hesitation she signed up for a course."
"The habit of clothing her and choosing how she might be fragranced was one he had copied from his father."
"Sonia could not put a date on when the drinking had seemed to become a problem."
"The only sounds she could hear were reassuring: a moped buzzing in the street below, a muffled conversation amplified by the acoustics of the narrow street and the faintly rasping breath of her oldest friend."
"It was a vision of contrived but fairy-tale perfection."
"Without his patience it might have been a tortuous business given their lack of both Spanish and English."
"‘La cuenta, por favor,’ she said, using most of the words she knew to ask for the bill."
"I’m not sure I could sit there. It looks so brutal."
"‘I’m not going home until the day after tomorrow,’ she said. ‘So I might come back for breakfast if you’re open.’"
"‘You must listen to the rhythms created by your feet,’ he said. ‘You are making your own music with them.'"
"‘I just enjoy it, but I don’t really see it becoming my religion,’ she added, laughing."
"‘I should stop myself getting carried away,’ she said eventually, tears welling up again in her eyes, ‘but I’m not sure I can.’"
"‘Is this really it?’ She was less certain than ever before that it was."
"It was a magical moment. Everything seemed full of promise. Even at the age of sixteen, I sensed that."
"We were breathing the fresh air of democracy and from then on there would be many more people who would have a say in how the country should be governed."
"The power of the landlords who had subjected millions of peasants to a life of poverty was reduced at long last."
"In politics, the struggle is occasionally balanced and the fighter and the animal have an equal chance."
"The family is in the safekeeping of the state. Marriage is based on equal rights for both sexes and can be dissolved by mutual agreement or by demand of either party."
"It was like a sweet springtime breeze for Spain. Someone had found the key, unlatched the door and thrown open the windows."
"Granada is full of opportunities, so imagine what it must be like in the rest of Spain!"
"The way Ignacio reacted, anyone would have thought that Emilio had personally struck the match."
"Mercedes was preoccupied with her next flamenco engagement and counting the days until she next saw Javier."
"In Granada churches were gutted, newspaper offices were wrecked and the theatre was destroyed by fire."
"After a police lieutenant was gunned down by four Fascists outside his house in Madrid, the leader of the right-wing monarchist party, Calvo Sotelo, was killed in revenge."
"The political temperature was high and tensions even higher."
"That summer a sequence of events triggered an outbreak of widespread violence."
"Alone in her room Mercedes would gaze at the photograph of her guitarra propped against her bedside lamp."
"‘It’s just too hot to do anything,’ responded Mercedes. ‘I’m going to lie on my bed.’"
"Concha tried to calm the storm that raged in her own household."
"JULY 17 WAS a typical summer’s day in Granada. The heat was blistering."
"A group of army generals were rebelling against the government and staging a coup d’état."
"On a different radio wave, the voice of General Queipo de Llano could be heard shrieking his victorious message."
"‘But once things settle down, General Franco might not turn out to be such a bad thing,’ she responded."
"The Ramírez family stayed indoors, the café doors firmly bolted and the wooden shutters fastened."
"‘Our country’s a mess! Our city’s a mess - and now our café . . . just look at it!’ she cried."
"‘We live in hope,’ responded the other.‘It would be much better for everyone. And the sooner it happens the better.’"
"‘Let’s pray that the nation will see the light and give in to General Franco,’ said one of them."
"‘That would be a relief,’ she said, smiling at the thought. ‘But doesn’t it depend what the charges against him are?’"
"‘What do you mean?’ Ignacio did not conceal his scorn. ‘What do you mean by "innocent"?’"
"The death of Lorca was a landmark event in this conflict. Any residual belief in fairness and justice was destroyed."
"Dancing was the only part of her life that had any meaning now."
"The absence of Javier, the death of Emilio and the atmosphere of grief that saturated her home meant that little was required of her imagination when she had to express pathos and loss."
"This was now a city where dancing was not considered desirable."
"To the crime of being late, Mercedes had added the sin of trying to conceal her surreptitious homecoming."
"The same maze of narrow streets, once the location for endless childhood games, became the scene of terrifying pursuit."
"In spite of the hour, there was no one else around."
"It was the first meat that many of them had tasted in years."
"Violence was perpetrated against individuals too."
"His sanity had been saved by the momentary release he felt when he pulled a trigger."
"The grief of losing Emilio was as raw on this cold January day as it had been on the day he had been taken from their home."
"It was as though Granada had no connection with the world outside."
"Serving people with coffee and small glasses of fiery cognac sometimes seemed so utterly pointless."
"I hate every second, of every minute, of every hour of every day."
"The tension in this city was affecting them all."
"Their socialist beliefs now bonded them more closely than ever."
"Even among those who fought on the same side, they instilled fear and disgust."
"The notion of this war being fought for them by foreigners spurred them to action."
"Every centimetre of dust they had gained had cost them many lives."
"It just seems a bloody mess to me, that’s all."
"Prefer to be widows of heroes, rather than wives of cowards!"
"It’s better to die on our feet than live on our knees."
"Luck seems to be on the right side for once."
"If Franco thinks he’ll win by destroying all these towns, then he’s wrong."
"The struggle against Franco seemed to be intensifying."
"The knowledge that she was leaving behind every single person she loved and knew was unbearable."
"After all these months, years even, of hardship, it seemed extraordinary that anyone's voice could be so completely free of bitterness."
"Even the illusion of freedom that had been dangled in front of them that afternoon had evaporated."
"The air reeked of the sour odour of men sweating beneath filthy shirts. It was the smell of fear."
"In spite of his habitually positive stance, he was feeling increasingly disheartened."
"He had no religious faith. 'But a belief in protecting your own essence, believe me, gives you such strength to survive.'"
"The thundering cracks of anti-aircraft fire punctuated the occasional moment of peace."
"The tug of war over Teruel continued until February when the Nationalists took the town back from the Republicans."
"'So this is winning,' said Francisco, stabbing his heel into the ground. 'And this is what it feels like to be the victors.'"
"‘We have a choice: drink this filthy muck that could give us typhoid, or die of thirst,’ said Francisco."
"We’re fighting them alone. A bit of Russian support maybe . . ."
"In these green meadows they had found sanctuary."
"The children were kept busy with lessons, chores and gymnastics, but the discipline was kind."
"They picnicked in the sunshine but for many days they were anxious whenever they heard the sound of aeroplanes."
"Much of what they were given tasted strange to the evacuees but they were grateful for it."
"The organisation was impressive. As well as the divisions between girls and boys, there were separate areas for the three groups of children, divided according to the politics of their parents."
"Every day there was a prize for the tidiest tent and Mercedes made sure that her little charges often won the competition."
"Though they were protected from articles in the newspapers that were hostile to their arrival, one piece of news that was not kept from the Spanish refugees was the fall of Bilbao to the Nationalists."
"The delightful romance of all the garden’s different spaces captivated everyone."
"The residents of the terrace often spent the whole night in the shelter. It was the safest place."
"Mercedes tried not to think too much about the strain her parents were living under."