Review of Swallow's also fall by CR Armeny

 

It is nineteen eighteen when influenza is sweeping Europe like a plague. The newly born Marcel-li is a sickly baby, his mother has died from influenza, and he is being fostered. Swallows Also Fall by CR Armeny tells Marcel-li Massana's life through an enthralling mixture of fact and fiction. From the point of view of his foster mother, his foster sister and Marcel-li himself. When the family gets the news that his father has died from a heart attack, Marcel-li is five. When he turns seven, his uncle arrives to take him back to Solsona to be educated and become a priest. Overnight, Marcel-li is taken from a loving foster family to a repressed and miserable life with his Aunt Teresa and Uncle Damia. After taking Marcel-li for his first visit to the Cathedral, Uncle Damia says to Marcel-li, "You're a big boy now, and you need to learn discipline." Marcel-li is terrified and soon learns that everything he does is reported back to his uncle! As Marcel-li grows up, his brooding resentment grows into a revolutionary obsession, and he joins the Maqui resistance movement based in France so that he can fight Franco's government. Does Marcel-li become a priest? Why does Marcel-li end up in a concentration camp? How does the book get its title? Read Swallows Also Fall to discover the answers to these and other questions.

I love the descriptions Armeny uses to set the scenes, particularly when describing countryside, landscape and nature. For example, on page four, "In the evening, as we gathered around the fire, the forest became alive with the sharp screeching of the barn owl, the ghostly ooh-hu, ooh-hu, ooh-hu! of the eagle owl, and, at times, the terrifying howling of wolves." I felt the deep emotions in Marcel-li's life, his love for his foster family and his parents. His hatred for his aunt and uncle and the environment in which they bring him up. I felt Marcel-li's passion for joining the resistance movement and fighting to break Franco's regime. Furthermore, I felt Marcel-li's constant struggle to survive it all. The story is well thought out, and the characterization is brilliant. One conflict follows another, and the characters' lives follow the thread of Marceli Massana's turbulent journey and his ambition to restore justice and democracy.
 

Swallows Also Fall blends fact and fiction well, but the Cardona concentration camp is mentioned at one point. Despite extensive research, I can find no details that there was ever a concentration camp in Cardona. I think CR Armeny mentioning something specific should be backed up by truth. Also, I did not particularly appreciate that the only explanation for the foster family moving to Berga was that they had too much bad luck on their smallholding and wanted a change. The family are poor, livestock have died, and presumably, they have even less money now, but they move to a farmhouse. How do they suddenly afford this?

I recommend Swallows Also Fall by CR Armeny to adults and older teenagers who enjoy factually based historical fiction. Due to the subject matter, I would not recommend it to anyone younger.

I would like to give Swallows Also Fall 5 out of 5 stars. It is well-written, and the editing is perfect. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Marcel-li's life.