Description: Set in contemporary Spain, Susana Aikins latest novel is a colorful, beautifully written examination of memory, romance, and the intricacies of family duty. On a sweltering August day in Madrid, Anna, Julia, and Marion return to their childhood home. The once grand mansion, furnished with exotic objects and art that reflected the cultures of their English father and Spanish mother, once bustled with visitors. But since their fathers death, all three sisters have been reluctant to go back, still feeling the weight of his domineering influence. Julia believes that before the house can sell, it needs to be cleared of negative energy, and she has planned a limpieza, or cleaning ritual. Marion, the oldest, fears what the ceremony might unleash. Anna, the youngest and most capable and ambitious of the trio, is skeptical of the Cuban santera hired by Julia. Still, she is wary of antagonizing her siblings, or of stirring up old resentment. But as the ceremony progresses, guilt and recrimination become impossible to ignore. And if theres a chance of bringing their house and their lives out of the shadows, it rests in the sisterhood, strength, and indomitable love that remains when the ghosts of the past surrender at last.
Brief description: Susana Aikin is a writer and a filmmaker who was educated in both England and Spain. She studied law at the University of Madrid and, later, creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. In 1986, she started her own independent-film production company, Starfish Productions, producing and directing documentary films that won her multiple awards. She started writing fiction full time in 2010. She lives between Brooklyn and the mountains of north Madrid, and she has two sons.