The Scent of Lemon Leaves - Softcover

Clara Sánchez is the author of eight novels, including Últimas noticias del paraíso which won the prestigious Alfaguara Prize in 2000. She is a columnist for top-selling Spanish newspaper El País and has been an occasional contributor for national television. Her books have all been translated into several languages.

Pregnant and seeking to flee bad memories and worse choices, Sandra heads for a beach community on the coast of Spain to examine her life and goals and get back on track. In Sanchez’s different, complex, yet ultimately uninspiring novel, she instead meets an older couple, Karin and Fredrik, whose friendship plunges her into dangers she’d never thought possible. Octogenarian Julian is the other narrative voice, whose pained memories of his past in a WWII concentration camp fuel his drive to hunt down erstwhile Nazis and force them to face justice for their atrocious crimes. Between 80-year-old Julian’s dark past and murky future, 30-year-old Sandra’s escape from her own past and unintentional launching into a mire of secrets and betrayals, and the seemingly rich territory of former war criminals mingling with unsuspecting regular citizens, the plot should torpedo along. Flat writing and confusing tangles of subplots derail its momentum and land it instead in a morass of bewildering actions by characters who seem even more lost and confused than their straits would indicate. --Julie Trevelyan