by Ruta Sepetys
ALSO BY RUTA SEPETYS
Between Shades of Gray
Out of the Easy
Salt to the Sea
PHILOMEL BOOKS
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York
First published in the United States of America by Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2019.
Copyright © 2019 by Ruta Sepetys.
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library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Names: Sepetys, Ruta, author. Title: The fountains of silence : a novel / Ruta Sepetys. Description: New York : Philomel Books, [2019] | Summary: At the Castellana Hilton in 1957 Madrid, eighteen-year-old Daniel Matheson connects with Ana Moreno through photography and fate as Daniel discovers the incredibly dark side of the city under Generalissimo Franco's rule. Identifiers: LCCN 2019018127| ISBN 9780399160318 (hardback) | ISBN 9780593116708 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593115251 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593174511 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: Spain—History—20th century—Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Madrid (Spain)—History—Fiction. | Spain—History—20th century—Fiction. | Dictatorship—Fiction. | Hotels, motels, etc—Fiction. | Photography—Fiction. | Secrets—Fiction. | Franco, Francisco, 1892-1975—Fiction. Classification: LCC PZ7.S47957 Fou 2019 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019018127
Ebook ISBN 9780698174511
Edited by Liza Kaplan. Design by Ellice M. Lee. Text set in Bembo.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The oral history excerpts included herein contain the personal recollections and opinions of the individuals interviewed and are meant to provide historical context. The views expressed should not be considered official statements of the U.S. government or the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.
Bullfighting was popular throughout Spain in the 1950s. Save the bulls. Learn more at PACMA.es.
Version_1
For Kristina and John
CONTENTS
Title Page
Also by Ruta Sepetys
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
Epigraph
Part OneChapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Part TwoChapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
&nbs
p; Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
Chapter 144
Chapter 145
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
Chapter 149
Author’s Note
Research and Sources
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Photographs
About the Author
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo
Francisco Franco's victory parade in Madrid celebrating his triumph in the Spanish Civil War. May 1939.
The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) began as a military revolt against the democratically elected Second Spanish Republic and continued as an armed conflict between the Nationalists and the Republicans. The Nationalists were led by Generalísimo Francisco Franco and aided by Hitler and Mussolini. The Republicans were led by the democratic government at the time and aided by Mexico, the Soviet Union, and volunteers from over fifty countries, with support from academics, creatives, workers, unions, and leftists. Internally divided, the Republicans were not able to stop the Nationalist advance and surrendered in March of 1939.
Franco’s dictatorship lasted thirty-six years.
We have only died if you forget us.
—anonymous epitaph
SPANISH CIVIL WAR MASS GRAVE
PART ONE
1957
MADRID, SPAIN
I’ve never been happy about sending an Ambassador to Spain, and I am not happy about it now, and unless Franco changes in his treatment of citizens who do not agree with him religiously I’ll be sorely tempted to break off all communication with him in spite of the defense of Europe.
—HARRY S. TRUMAN, 33rd president of the United States
August 2, 1951
Memorandum from Truman to Secretary of State Dean Acheson
Acheson Papers—Secretary of State File
Truman Library Archives
1
They stand in line for blood.
June’s early sun blooms across a string of women waiting patiently at el matadero. Fans snap open and flutter, replying to Madrid’s warmth and the scent of open flesh wafting from the slaughterhouse.
The blood will be used for morcilla, blood sausage. It must be measured with care. Too much blood and the sausage is not firm. Too little and the sausage crumbles like dry earth.
Rafael wipes the blade on his apron, his mind miles from morcilla. He turns slowly from the line of customers and puts his face to the sky.
In his mind it is Sunday. The hands of the clock touch six.
It is time.
The trumpet sounds and the march of the pasodoble rolls through the arena.
Rafael steps onto the sand, into the sun.
He is ready to meet Fear.
In the center box of the bullring sits Spain’s dictator, Generalísimo Francisco Franco. They call him El Caudillo—leader of armies, hero by the grace of God. Franco looks down to the ring. Their eyes meet.
You don’t know me, Generalísimo, but I know you.
I am Rafael Torres Moreno, and today, I am not afraid.
* * *
“Rafa!”
The supervisor swats the back of Rafael’s damp neck. “Are you blind? There’s a line. Stop daydreaming. The blood, Rafa. Give them their blood.”
Rafa nods, walking toward the patrons. His visions of the bullring quickly disappear.
Give them their blood.
Memories of war tap at his brain. The small, taunting voice returns, choking daydreams into nightmares. You do remember, don’t you, Rafa?
He does.
* * *
The silhouette is unmistakable.
Patent-leather men with patent-leather souls.
The Guardia Civil. He secretly calls them the Crows. They are servants of Generalísimo Franco and they have appeared on the street.
“Please. Not here,” whispers Rafael from his hiding spot beneath the trees.
The wail of a toddler echoes above. He looks up and sees Julia at the open window, holding their youngest sister, Ana.
Their father’s voice booms from inside. “Julia, close the window! Lock the door and wait for your mother. Where is Rafa?”
“Here, Papá,” whispers Rafael, his small legs folded in hiding. “I’m right here.”
His father appears at the door. The Crows appear at the curb.
The shot rings out. A flash explodes. Julia screams from above.
Rafa’s body freezes. No breath. No air.
No.
No.
No.
They drag his father’s limp corpse by an arm.
“¡Papá!”
It’s too late. As the cry leaves his throat, Rafa realizes. He’s given himself away.
A pair of eyes dart. “His boy’s behind the tree. Grab him.”
* * *
Rafa blinks, blocking the painful memories, hiding his collapsed heart beneath a smile.
“Buenos días, señora. How may I help you?” he asks the customer.
“Blood.”
“Sí, señora.”
Give them their blood.
For more than twenty years, Spain has given blood. And sometimes Rafa wonders—what is left to give?
2
It’s a lie.
It has to be.
I know what you’ve done.
Ana Torres Moreno stands two levels belowground, in the second servants’ basement. She rips the small note to pieces, shoves them in her mouth, and swallows.
A voice calls from the hall. “Hurry, Ana. They’re waiting.”
Dashing through the windowless maze of stone walls, Ana wills herself to move faster. Wills herself to smile.
A weak glow from a bare bulb whispers light onto the supply shelf. Ana spots the tiny sewing kit and throws it into her basket. She runs to the stairs and falls in step with Lorenza, who balances an assortment of cigarettes on a tray.
“You look pale,” whispers Lorenza. “¿Estás bien?”
“I’m fine,” replies Ana.
Always say you’re fine, especially when you’re not, she reminds herself.
The mouth of the stairway appears. Light from a crystal chandelier twinkles and beckons from the glittering hall.
Their steps slow, synchronize, and in perfect unison they emerge onto the marble floor of the hotel lobby, faces full of smile. Ana scrolls her mental list. The man from New York will want a newspaper and matches. The woman from Pennsylvania will need more ice.
Americans love ice. Some claim to have trays of cubed ice in their own kitchens. Maybe it’s possible. Ana sees advertisements for appliances in glossy magazines that hotel guests leave behind.
Frigidaire! Rustproof aluminum shelving, controlled butter-ready.
Whatever that means. Beyond Spain, all is a mystery.
Ana hears every word, but guests would never know it. She scurries, filling requests quickly so visitors have no time to glance out of their world and into hers.
Julia, the matriarch of their fractured family, issues constant reminders. “You trust too easily, Ana. You reveal too much. Stay silent.”
Ana is tired of silence, tired of unanswered questions, and tired of secrets. A girl of patched pieces, she dreams of new beginnings. She dreams of leaving Spain. But her sister is right. Her dreams have p
roven dangerous.
I know what you’ve done.
“For once, follow the rules instead of your heart,” pleads her sister.
Follow the rules. To be invisible in plain view and paid handsomely for it—five pesetas per hour—this is the plan. Her older brother, Rafael, works at both the slaughterhouse and the cemetery. Between two jobs he makes only twelve pesetas, twenty cents according to the hotel’s exchange desk, for an entire day’s work.
Ana hands the sewing kit to the concierge and heads quickly for the staff elevator. The morning is gone, but her task list is growing. Summer season has officially arrived at the hotel, pouring thousands of new visitors into Spain. The elevator doors open to the seventh floor. Ana shifts the basket to her hip and hurries down the long corridor.
“Towels for 760,” whispers a supervisor who shuttles past.
“Towels for 760,” she confirms.
Four years old, but to Ana, the American hotel smells new. Tucked into her basket is a stack of hotel brochures featuring a handsome bullfighter, a matador, holding a red cape. In fancy script across the cape is written:
Castellana Hilton Madrid. Your Castle in Spain.
Castles. She saw old postcards as a child. The haunting newsreel rolls behind her eyes:
The tree-lined avenue of Paseo de la Castellana—home to Spanish royalty and grand palaces. And then, the bright images fade. 1936. Civil war erupts in Spain. War drains color from the cheeks of Madrid. The grand palaces become gray ghosts. Gardens and fountains disappear. So do Ana’s parents. Hunger and isolation cast a filter of darkness over the country. Spain is curtained off from the world.
And now, after twenty years of nationwide atrophy, Generalísimo Franco is finally allowing tourists into Spain. Banks and hotels wrap new exteriors over old palace interiors. The tourists don’t know the difference. What lies beneath is now hidden, like the note disintegrating in her stomach.
Ana reads the newspapers and magazines that guests discard. She memorizes the brochure to recite on cue.
Formerly a palace, Castellana is the first Hilton property in Europe. Over three hundred rooms, each with a three-channel radio, and even a telephone.