A review by nebraskanwriter
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

“He scratched a proverb on the wall for future inmates: ‘Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, he became a butterfly.’” 
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Wow, what an amazing book! Being over 500 pages, I was a little intimated to start this but the audiobook was superb and I flew through this.
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The story begins a little slow as Sepetys begins painting a picture of 1957 Spain, controlled by the dictator Franco. She immerses you in the people, the culture, their lives and the many secrets they keep. The silent vow they take. She examins this moment in history from multiple angles, following multiple characters who help show the reader that all is not what it seems in Spain. You have the American, the maid at the hotel and her family, a grave digger and an employee at a Catholic orphanage. But something is off. Children are going missing. Orphanages are overflowing. Mothers are asking about their children and where they went. But no one is giving answers, no one is saying anything. 
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Sepetys slowly pulls back the layers of Franco’s Spain, exposing to Daniel (the naive American) what is actually going on and what all the Spanish people are enduring under the dictator. As I did not know much about Spain’s history, I found this story both fascinating and also horrifying. 
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Sepetys is a master at humanizing history, bringing to life the words in our history books and giving voices to those who have been silenced for far too long. 
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