The Weight of the Heart

<div dir=auto><strong><em>Set in contemporary Spain Susana Aikin’s latest novel is a colorful beautifully written examination of memory romance and the intricacies of family duty.</em></strong><br><strong> </strong><br>On a sweltering August day in Madrid Anna Julia and Marion return to their childhood home. The once grand mansion furnished with exotic objects and art that reflected the cultures of their English father and Spanish mother once bustled with visitors. But since their father’s death all three sisters have been reluctant to go back still feeling the weight of his domineering influence. Julia believes that before the house can sell it needs to be cleared of negative energy and she has planned a <em>limpieza</em> or cleaning ritual.<br><br>Marion the oldest fears what the ceremony might unleash. Anna the youngest and most capable and ambitious of the trio is skeptical of the Cuban <em>santera</em> hired by Julia. Still she is wary of antagonizing her siblings or of stirring up old resentment.<br><br>But as the ceremony progresses guilt and recrimination become impossible to ignore. And if there’s a chance of bringing their house and their lives out of the shadows it rests in the sisterhood strength and indomitable love that remains when the ghosts of the past surrender at last.<br><br><strong>Praise for Susana Aikin’s <em>We Shall See the Sky Sparkling</em></strong><br><strong><em> </em></strong><br><strong>“Satisfying. . . . Expertly plotted and rife with historical details . . . a rich story of the prejudices women faced at the turn of the 20th century.”  <br>—<em>Publishers Weekly</em></strong></div>