The genre of 'Winter in Madrid' is described as historical fiction, although actually it's also a very decent thriller. Set in Madrid during the winter of 1940-41, it follows the story of three English former public school boys who have become caught up, in differing ways, with Franco's rule in Spain. Attending Rookwood during the 1920s were Bernie, son of a grocer, who was able to attend the school through a scholarship, Sandy, a boy with a strict father who immediately sent him to a second public school after he managed to get himself expelled from the first, and Harry, who was caught between the two as he liked them both and they, being polar opposites, ...  Read the complete review

Having read and enjoyed C. J. Sansom's Shardlake trilogy, I was interested to see what would happen when the author moved out of his comfort zone of Tudor England and into another era and country. With that in mind, I took up Winter in Madrid. Set in Spain during the Second World War, it follows a number of different characters as they struggle to get to grips with Franco's Spain. Winter in Madrid seems to divide people quite drastically. Mrs SWSt read it and quite enjoyed it; my mother-in-law struggled to get into it and eventually gave up, and I sat somewhere in the middle, enjoying parts of it, but finding other bits hard going. Certainly, it was not as ...  Read the complete review