Dulce Chacon's book has had an immense success in Spain, no doubt because the novelist speaks with a just and powerful voice, and because she has allowed women - the most anonymous, the most suppressed, the most silenced - to speak out" Le Monde

It is 1939. In the Ventas prison in Madrid a group of women have been incarcerated. Their crime is to have supported or fought on the Republican side in Spain's cruel and devastating Civil War. Chief among them are Hortensia, who fought with the militia and is pregnant by her husband Felipe - a man still at large and fighting against Franco's dictatorship - and who lives with the knowledge that she will be shot after she gives birth; sixteen-year-old Elvira, who tried to leave Spain with her mother, but was arrested by the Falangists while she was boarding their ship; Tomasa, whose husband, four sons and daughter-in-law were thrown off a bridge; and Pepita, Hortensia's sister, who from outside the prison acts as messenger between her and her husband.

Dulce Chacon's deeply moving novel is based on the actual testimonies of a number of women who survived the Spanish Civil War, and suffered imprisonment under the France regime, as well as on accounts of others who died fighting for freedom. A bestseller in Spain, where it was voted 'Book of the year', The Sleeping Voice is remarkable for its combination of dramatic intensity and historical authenticity.

A novel based on the testimonies of hundreds of survivors that tells the previously untold story of the women who were on the losing side in the Spanish Civil War

About the Author
Dulce Chacon was born in Zafra (Badajoz) in 1954. A prize-winning poet and novelist, her life was cut short by cancer just as The Sleeping Voice was establishing her reputation throughout Europe.

Reviews
'Dulce Chacon's book has had an immense success in Spain, no doubtbecause the novelist speaks with a just and powerful voice, and becauseshe has allowed women - the most anonymous, the most suppressed, themost silenced - to speak out.' Martine Silber, Le Monde



Book Information
ISBN 9781843432098
Author Dulce Chacon
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Harvill Secker
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 332g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 153mm * 20mm