The magnolia house (Amount, 2022) is the first novel by Nuria Quintana, a young writer who deploys narrative beauty in a family story full of reservations. It is one of those stories in which the past sometimes cannot be closed and the descendants of the great protagonists are in charge of discovering the secrets and intimacies of their parents.
Aurora and Cristina are two friends from different origins who, due to their age, can allow themselves to imagine their respective lives together. In reality, neither of them suspects how their paths will separate. Many decades later, Isabel, Aurora's daughter, will discover the truth. The magnolia house It is a novel about the twists and turns of a family.
The house of the magnolias: the nooks and crannies of a family
The family history of Isabel and her mother
The story takes place between two eras: from 1924 to the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in Santander. And in 1992 in the Cantabrian town of Santillana del Mar. It is the story of Isabel and her past that also concerns that of her mother, Aurora.. And it is the story of Aurora and Cristina.
In the 20s, Aurora and Cristina were two friends from totally different social backgrounds.. Cristina was the daughter of the magnolia house family. Aurora and her parents were part of the domestic service. But that would not be an impediment for the two young women to dream together and tell each other their intimacies with complicity and affection. What happened some time later would break all traces of affection between the two, and Aurora would leave that house having been orphaned and with a daughter, Isabel.
In 1992 Isabel just lost her mother. The two had been very close and one's life had always influenced the other's because Aurora had raised Isabel alone. Despite this, Isabel knows nothing about her mother's childhood and youth, because she shied away from talking about the subject. It was not until her mother's death and because of a great discovery that Isabel gained the strength to delve into her mother's bitter past..
And is that Isabel discovers that her father was not her father, even though she never met him.. At his mother's funeral, in the company of a close family friend, Luis, he will discover a series of intrigues that will only begin a family story made up of various characters.
The style of the novel: descriptions and characters
Although the main characters are Isabel and Aurora, there are also other secondary characters, such as Cristina or Luis, who will make up the plot and will be very important for those who are the protagonists. In fact, The novel is narrated through different voices, although always in the first person.. Isabel and Aurora stand out, of course, but on occasion others will also speak. The voices of the characters imprint their character and circumstances, especially those of the main characters.
Although everything is told with logic and detail, Quintaba recreates the description of the characters, spaces and context. Therefore, there may be an excess of detail that may bother some readers. However, the author manages to consolidate the plots thanks also to her descriptive work. And she doesn't abandon the action either, which advances cautiously in the first pages, although the intrigue takes over the story as the novel progresses.
The magnolia house It is a novel in which The periods alternate in each chapter, so the time jumps are constant and explain the action of each time. The setting is crucial for the author, who does not avoid focusing on the details at the beginning of the book so that the reader is finally introduced into the story with all the information, more extensive, by the way, than what some of the characters really have.
Conclusions
En The magnolia house The narrative development is presented with intelligence and audacity, especially marked in the style and history of the characters. We must not forget that Nuria Quintaba is a novelist who debuts with this family story in two different eras and in which the characters dedicate themselves to unraveling a past with great themes. such as friendship, love, family and disloyalty. On the other hand, although the ending is predictable, all the conflicts are resolved and the beauty and delicacy with which the author carries out the outcome of the novel stands out.
About the author
Nuria Quintana was born in Madrid in 1995 although from a very early age she and her family moved to Galicia. In Madrid, however, she would pursue her studies: Audiovisual Communication and Business Administration and Management. Her hobbies focus precisely on writing and also photography. Quintana is a young writer who has already entered the publishing world thanks to her first novel, The magnolia house (2022) published by sum of letters, of the group Penguin random house.