Why am I passionate about this?

Joan Fallon is a Scottish novelist who has lived in the province of Málaga, in southern Spain, for almost thirty years. She has a great passion for all aspects of Spanish history and culture. While writing a book about the lives of Spanish women after the Civil War, she learned about the unbelievable massacre of thousands of innocent people as they left their homes and fled to Almería in 1937. Women, children and old men were gunned down by cruising gunboats. A historian, teacher and now an author, Joan wanted to know why nobody ever spoke about this tragedy.


I wrote

Spanish Lavender

By Joan Fallon,

Book cover of Spanish Lavender

What is my book about?

Spanish Lavender is a love story set in the Spanish Civil War. In January 1937, Elizabeth, a young English girl…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Spanish Testament

Joan Fallon Why did I love this book?

This book was written in 1937 by a British journalist who was visiting Spain. This was the year that Málaga fell to the Nationalist forces. It is the year that I write about in Spanish Lavender, a love story set in the Spanish Civil War in Málaga. Arthur Koestler arrived in that city when thousands of people were fleeing from the advancing army. His book gives an eye witness account of what it was like there, the military situation, the devastation and the evacuation. He saw it all and wrote about it. Later he was arrested and imprisoned in a Nationalist gaol in Seville and described his experiences. For me it was the most useful book I could have found.

By Arthur Koestler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Spanish Testament as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Als im Juli 1936 nach einem Generalputsch der Spanische Bürgerkrieg ausbricht, zeigen sich viele Intellektuelle auf der ganzen Welt solidarisch mit der bedrohten Republik. Auch Schriftsteller und Journalist Arthur Koestler reist wenig später als Kriegsberichterstatter nach Spanien. Dort erlebt er die Eroberung Málagas durch die Truppen von General Franco mit. Kurz darauf wird Koestler von faschistischen Putschisten festgenommen und durch ein Standgericht zum Tode verurteilt. Auf seine Hinrichtung wartend, beginnt Koestler, seine Beobachtungen und Gedanken in Ein spanisches Testament niederzuschreiben. Mit seinen autobiografischen Erinnerungen an jene bewegte Zeit ist Koestler das wohl bedeutendste Werk zum Spanischen Bürgerkrieg gelungen. Schriftstellerkollegen wie…


Book cover of Blood of Spain: An Oral History of the Spanish Civil War

Joan Fallon Why did I love this book?

This is an oral history of the Spanish Civil War. It is a collection of interviews, essays and commentaries from people who lived through the war. Again, it showed what people were feeling and thinking at the time.

By Ronald Fraser,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Blood of Spain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Conversations taped between June 1973 and May 1975 with more than three hundred survivors of the Spanish Civil War provide a chronological account of the fratricidal struggle, which brought violence and desperation to every family in Spain


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Book cover of Ferry to Cooperation Island

Ferry to Cooperation Island By Carol Newman Cronin,

James Malloy is a ferry captain--or used to be, until he was unceremoniously fired and replaced by a "girl" named Courtney Farris. Now, instead of piloting Brenton Island’s daily lifeline to the glitzy docks of Newport, Rhode Island, James spends his days beached, bitter, and bored.

When he discovers a…

Book cover of For Whom the Bell Tolls

Joan Fallon Why did I love this book?

It is a beautifully written novel and is based on Hemingway’s own experiences in Spain during the war. I read this many years ago and it was what first sparked my interest in the Spanish Civil War.

By Ernest Hemingway,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked For Whom the Bell Tolls as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Inspired by his experiences as a reporter during the Spanish Civil War, Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls tells the story of Robert Jordan, an American volunteer in the International Brigades fighting to defend the Spanish Republic against Franco. After being ordered to work with guerrilla fighters to destroy a bridge, Jordan finds himself falling in love with a young Spanish woman and clashing with the guerrilla leader over the risks of their mission.

One of the great novels of the twentieth century, For Whom the Bell Tolls was first published in 1940. It powerfully explores the brutality of…


Book cover of Malaga Burning: An American Woman's Eyewitness Account of the Spanish Civil War

Joan Fallon Why did I love this book?

Gamel Woolsey was the wife of Gerald Brenan, who has written many books about Spain. They were living in Málaga when the Civil War broke out. This is a book of her experiences and the people she met then.

By Gamel Woolsey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Malaga Burning as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Gamel Woolsey instinctively understood that a civil war, with all its irrationality of blood killing blood, could not be told by a journalistic recitiation. Yet through her vivid character sketches and her powerful eyewitness account, a reader comes away from Gamel Woolsey's memoir with the feeling of having attained a grasp of the Spanish war--as great, perhaps, as if one had plowed through some multi-tomed work heavy with statistics. Her descriptions of Spanish life are timeless, and therefore remain as fresh and compelling as when written.


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Book cover of Sea Change

Sea Change By Darlene Marshall,

David Fletcher needs a surgeon, stat! But when he captures a British merchantman in the Caribbean, what he gets is Charley Alcott, an apprentice physician barely old enough to shave. Needs must, and Captain Fletcher takes the prisoner back aboard his ship with orders to do his best or he’ll…

Book cover of Between Two Fires: Guerrilla War In The Spanish Sierras

Joan Fallon Why did I love this book?

This book takes a different look at the Spanish Civil War. It looks at the history of the guerrilla war in the Spanish sierras, where poorly armed men waged a drawn out battle against the Nationalist troops for years. It is also in the province of Málaga.

By David Baird,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Between Two Fires as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SPAIN'S FORGOTTEN WAR
This book reveals:*  how the USA secretly trained Spanish Communists to engage in a guerrilla war*  how a brutal crime was covered up for more than 50 years
Spain's Civil War did not end in 1939. Guerrillas determinedto oust Franco's ruthless military dictatorship fought on in the mountains in awar that went virtually unreported.
In Andalusia a legendary chieftain named Roberto led the"people of the sierra". Caught in the middle, torn by family and politicalallegiances, were the countryfolk . . . unknowing victims of decisions taken inMoscow, Paris, London and Washington.
This book relates what happens when…


Explore my book 😀

Spanish Lavender

By Joan Fallon,

Book cover of Spanish Lavender

What is my book about?

Spanish Lavender is a love story set in the Spanish Civil War. In January 1937, Elizabeth, a young English girl decides to remain in Spain when the rest of her family returns to the peace of England. Alone in the devastated city of Málaga, she makes friends with two young men, Juan, an idealistic Spaniard, and Alex, a pragmatic Englishman. Together they make their escape from the war-torn city along the coast to Almería. Amongst the death and carnage, she falls in love with Juan, only to lose him shortly afterward when he is badly wounded. Believing he is dead she returns to England.

Book cover of Spanish Testament
Book cover of Blood of Spain: An Oral History of the Spanish Civil War
Book cover of For Whom the Bell Tolls

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Interested in the Spanish Civil War, Spain, and oral history?

Spain 203 books
Oral History 20 books