Prologue
Valencia, Spain—The Present, 2010
I am dying. Life’s milk curdling in my veins barely pumps a heart that no longer wishes to beat. My crippled body yearns for the quiet depths of eternal sleep. I long for death, for its peace and quiet, for the end of my long journey.
I squint with the last vestige of dwindling sight at the world outside these four colourless walls—walls that have kept me safe and housed a thousand secrets and a thousand lies.
Outside, the vast landscape before me has changed beyond recognition, but I try to ignore the ugly skyline and see only what I want to see: the old world, my world! In my mind’s eye, the green-carpeted valleys that house the citrus groves and vineyards are lush with morning dew rising above a misty floor and sitting beneath a rainbow of skies that constantly change colour from dawn to dusk.
Beyond the mountains, the sea and the pine forests climb steep slopes above a mosaic of silvery-white granite, still ruggedly virginal in places,
The Guardian of Secrets Description:
A historical family saga spanning four generations, from 1912, Kent, England, to Spain and its 1936-39 civil war.
Celia and Ernesto’s two sons march under opposing banners, whilst their daughters take different paths, one to the Catholic Church and the other to the battlefields, and in the shadow of war, an evil ghost from the past watches and waits for an opportunity to destroy the entire family.
In exile, Celia and Ernesto can only wait and pray for their children and their safe return home..
