Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through a Country's Hidden Past (Paperback)

'Tremlett is as sound on social history as he is on recent politics. Ghosts of Spain is a book of remarkable scope... carried along by the author' s enthusiasm for his subject and his determination to capture this contemporary Spanish moment. It is a quest in which he succeeds brilliantly, and he emerges as a worthy member of that band of writers, from Richard Ford and Ernest Hemingway to Gerald Brenan and Michael Jacobs, who have fallen for Iberia. Ghosts of Spain is a warts-and-all love letter from someone who hopes never to recover from the "coup de foudre".' - The Sunday Times

'[An] incisive and engaging book... [Tremlett's] sober analysis of how the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004... exposed deep fissures in Spanish society is the best report I've read on the subject... [A]n invaluable book. Indeed, since it appeared in Britain last year, Ghosts of Spain has become something of a bible for those of us "extranjeros" who have chosen to live in Spain. A country finally facing its past could scarcely hope for a better, or more enamored, chronicler of its present.' - Sarah Wildman, New York Times Book Review

'[An] affectionate, deeply informed tour of the country... a highly informative, well-written introduction to post-Franco Spain. Mr. Tremlett' s taut recounting of the 2004 train bombings in Madrid makes especially timely reading, with the suspects now on trial.' - William Grimes, New York Times

'Mr. Tremlett['s]... affectionate yet critical intimacy with the country helps to make this book much more than an ordinary journalistic survey... Extended residency has... allowed Mr. Tremlett to gather off-beat stories distinctly revealing of his adopted land.' - Francis X. Rocco, Wall Street Journal

'[A] provocative and vividly written book that is part history, part political and social commentary, and part love letter... This book should be in all public and academic library collections on Spanish history and culture.' - Library Journal

'Tremlett... went native almost immediately upon his arrival in Spain twenty years ago. He wants us to see, hear, touch, and taste exactly why... .there are pages here on almost every exemplary, cautionary, and symbolic aspect of Old Spain and New.' - John Leonard, Harpers

'[A]n evocative, often poignant sojourn through the as-yet uncleared psychic mists of the civil war.' - Michael J. Bonafield, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

'Tremlett has written a smart and highly readable book that mixes incisive political history with sophisticated cultural reporting.' - Robin Updike, Seattle Times

'[Tremlett] paints a rich, multicolored canvas of one of Europe's most fascinating nations.' - Entertainment Weekly

'This well traveled journalist... knows his subject as he ventures through the past to explain the present personality of a country so varied that even in modern times its complicated medieval legacy is part of everyday life.' - Ann Geracimos, Washington Times