Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton

“I’ve always felt that cities have their own character, a personality shaped by their histories and the people that call them home. Barcelona is a city of whispers and secrets.”

Chanel Cleeton’s latest installment about the Perez family just may be my favorite so far – and considering how much I have loved and recommended all of them, that’s saying A LOT! Our Last Days in Barcelona returns to focusing on the Perez sisters, but this time, our focus is Isabel. In 1964, Isabel is worried about Beatriz who has moved to Barcelona and seems to be working as a spy. The family has not heard from Beatriz and they are worried. When Isabel arrives at Beatriz’s apartment, she is nowhere to be found. She does discover a photo of their mother, Alicia, with Isabel herself when she was only about two years old. They were clearly sitting at a café in Barcelona with a man Isabel does not know. She questions Alicia about the photo and her mother vehemently denies ever being in Barcelona.

While Isabel is investigating the whereabouts of Beatriz, we have alternating chapters from Alicia’s perspective in 1936. Alicia Perez has just traveled from Cuba to Barcelona with her young daughter, Isabel. Spain is in the midst of the Spanish Civil War, but Isabel could not stay in Cuba. Through Alicia’s perspective, we learn about her situation with her husband in Cuba, the war erupting in Spain and the relationship between Cuba and Spain during this war.

Chanel Cleeton is so skilled at writing historical fiction that is accessible, engaging and informative with some romance included in the mix. I have learned so much about Cuban history from these stories and now Spanish history is being added to the mix. Cuba, Barcelona and 1960s Palm Beach have come alive in this series and this book is the best yet (in my opinion)! If you have not read them, you can find the order here: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/chanel-cleeton/cuba-saga/.

Check out Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton at the Library (https://catalog.lclibs.org/polaris/search/title.aspx…).