Grijalbo 2024

A tribute to all those women who always fought to carry on. As real as life itself, as unforgettable as they are.

Gijón, summer of 1929. At barely seventeen, Manuela begins working as a maid in the mansion of the Marquises of Armayor. Surrounded by luxury that starkly contrasts with the poverty of her native village, the young woman will experience arrogance and heartbreak, but also discover the art of sewing, while forging an unbreakable friendship with the family’s only heir, Alexandra.

Years later, and despite belonging to very different worlds, her friend will be her greatest support when the Civil War forces Manuela to part from her daughter Telva, who is sent to Russia along with other children from the Republican zone, and also when she tries to reunite with her decades later, even if she must risk everything to do so.

The longing for Telva, a destiny at times merciless, and a great love story will shape Manuela’s life—a life that stretches across a turbulent century full of contrasts, masterfully captured by Ana Lena Rivera in the pages of this deeply moving novel.