A Woman Unknown

"In telling her own story, and in trying to reconcile the three worlds that have shaped her life and thought, Lucia Graves has given us a classic woman's memoir and a profound meditation on language and the mystery of identity. On nearly every page, however, this very personal book opens into something larger - an act of historical witness and a many-voiced testimony of Spain in the twentieth century. As she traces the patterns of love, sacrifice and female forbearance that have marked her own life, the author also draws unforgettable portraits of several Spanish women she has known and loved, among them Jimena, a Republican sympathizer whose family suffered terribly for their convictions, Sister Valentina, the teacher who felt it her godly mission to bring Lucia into the Catholic fold, and Olga, Lucia's Latvian dance instructor, an anti-communist who found shelter in Majorca after the Second World War."--Jacket.