Bob BALDOCK: Wild Green Oranges 

Bob Baldock spent five months in the Sierra Maestra of Cuba in1958 with Fidel Castro’s combat unit, Movimiento 26 de Julio. While there, he was the only U.S. citizen from the mainland to see action in combat with Fidel’s unit. Essentially autobiographical, Wild Green Oranges is a novel based on those experiences.

Arturo & Ilsa BAREA: Struggle for the Spanish Soul & Spain in the Post-War World    

Foreword by William Chislettt

In Struggle for the Spanish Soul (1941) Barea asserted the imperative for the democracies of Europe to unseat Franco. Similar arguments made in Spain in the Post-War World (1945) also fell on deaf ears. Together, these two essays paint a picture of the early years of Franco’s brutal dictatorship.

Sir Peter CHALMERS MITCHELL: My House in Málaga  

Sir Peter retired to Málaga in 1934 at the age of 70, after an eminent career in zoology. Two years later the Spanish Civil War erupted. While most ex-pats fled to Gibraltar, Sir Peter stayed on to “protect his house and servants” from the fascist insurgents. He ended up in prison for sheltering Arthur Koestler from Franco’s head of propaganda, who had threatened to “shoot him like a dog”.

Constancia DE LA MORA: In Place of Splendour  

Introduction by Soledad Fox Maura

Constancia de la Mora was one of the first Spanish women to obtain a divorce under the new laws passed by the fledgling Spanish Republic. When the fascist rebellion broke out in 1936, she became a key figure in the Republic’s international press office. This is her autobiography, first published in 1940.

Cristina FERNÁNDEZ CUBAS: The Gap Year

When Daniel spurns the priesthood after seven years secluded in a Spanish seminary, his sister makes him a generous gift: enough money to fund him for a year so he can explore the world and discover himself. After some months, he joins the crew of a small sailing boat. They run into a violent storm and Daniel is washed up on an island shrouded in fog, apparently all alone . . .

Federico GARCÍA LORCA: Yerma 

In a remote village in Andalusia, a woman’s obsession with having a child leads her to indulge in pagan fertility rites, in the face of her husband’s indifference and the stifling environment of the village. Her desperation slowly escalates until it finally explodes in a violent dénouement. This is one of Lorca’s most passionate plays, presented here in a new translation.

Juana Manuela GORRITI: The Yocci Well  

A love story, ghost story and gothic horror rolled into one, the action in The Yocci Well takes place in two parallel periods spanning twenty years, contrasting Argentina’s War of Independence with the savagery of the civil wars that followed. This brilliant novella is now available in English for the first time.

Juana Manuela GORRITI: Our Native Land 

Juana Manuela Gorriti’s last major work, published in 1889, relates a physical journey through northern Argentina as well as a voyage back through her memories of the people and events she had known and experienced along the way. This fascinating insight into her life and times is now available in English for the first time.

H Irving HANCOCK: What One Man Saw 

The US declared war on Spain in April 1898 and in June the first detachment of the notorious “Rough Riders” landed on Cuban shores. Travelling alongside them were a number of “embedded” journalists, including the thirty-year-old Harrie Irving Hancock.  This is what he saw.

In 1825 Captain Francis Bond Head retired from the army to take up a post with a mining company to survey and report on mining opportunities in Chile and Argentina, travelling back and forth across the continent and earning him the nickname “Galloping Head”.  His travel notes were much admired by Charles Darwin on his own journey from ocean to ocean six years later.

Ernesto HERRERA: Brutal Tales

This aptly titled collection of short stories lays bare the author’s anger at the injustice and brutality he witnessed in contemporary Uruguayan society, depicing a world in which desperation and violence go hand in hand. Over a century after their publication, these stories are presented here i English for the first time.

Angela JACKSON: British Women and the Spanish Civil War

Why would young British women risk their lives by volunteering to serve in medical units during Spain’s bitter civil war? Why would so many women here in Britain dedicate their energies to raising funds to help people suffering in Spain ? The answers to these and other intriguing questions can be found in this revised and updated paperback edition of Angela Jackson’s classic study.

Nancy JOHNSTONE: Hotel in Spain – Hotel in Flight 

A MEMOIR IN TWO VOLUMES

Hotel in Spain is a light-hearted account of a couple who leave their jobs in London and move to Tossa de Mar on the Costa Brava to set up their own hotel, covering the period from 1934 to 1936. Hotel in Flight is the dark sequel, starting in July 1936 as Civil War erupts in Spain and throws the country into turmoil..

Nancy JOHNSTONE: Sombreros are Becoming

In 1939,  in the final stages of the Spanish Civil War, Nancy and Archie Johnstone made a desperate dash for the border with the children they had sheltered in their hotel in Tossa de Mar. Once in France the children were interned in a concentration camp. After doing all they could to help, the Johnstones went into exile in Mexico. Sombreros are Becoming is a light-heartened account of how they rebuilt their lives in Cuernavaca.

James R JUMP: The Fighter Fell in Love: A Spanish Civil War Memoir   Foreword by Paul Preston and Preface by Jack Jones

At the age of 21, James R Jump left his fiancée in England and went to Spain to join the International Brigades in their fight against Franco and his fascist supporters. He saw action in the Battle of the Ebro and was mentioned in despatches for his bravery. This is his previously unpublished memoir.

Jan KURZKE: The Good Comrade – Memoirs of an International Brigader

Introduction by Richard Baxell

Jan Kurzke was an artist who fled Nazi Germany in the early 1930s and tramped round the south of Spain, witnessing first-hand the poverty of the rural population. When the civil war broke out in 1936, he joined the International Brigade. Many of his fellow volunteers died in the savage battles on the outskirts of Madrid and Jan himself was seriously wounded at Boadilla.

 Elizabeth LAKE: Spanish Portrait 

Afterword by Vicky Randall

A brutally honest, semi-autobiographical novel set in San Sebastián and Madrid between 1934 and 1936, portraying a frantic love affair against a background of apprehension and confusion as Spain drifted inexorably towards civil war.

“A remarkable first novel revealing a remorseless interest in emotional truth” – Elizabeth Bowen

Elizabeth LAKE: Marguerite Reilly

First published in 1946, Marguerite Reilly is the fictionalised story of four generations of Irish immigrants struggling to make good in the Victorian and post-Victorian era.

“The book engages the reader’s attention from the first page. It is acutely observed and beautifully written” – The Spectator

John LANGDON-DAVIES: Behind the Spanish Barricades  

Prologue by Paul Preston

First published in 1936, this memoir chronicles the early months of the Spanish Civil War. Arriving on a second-hand motorbike, he experiences the exuberant atmosphere in Barcelona during its short-lived proletarian revolution, as well as the horrors of war as he visits Toledo during the siege of the Alcázar.

Alan LLOYD: Hampshire Heroes – Volunteer Fighters in the Spanish Civil War 

Between 1936 and 1939 some 2,500 men and women from Britain and Ireland volunteered to support the Spanish Republic in its fight against Franco’s insurrection. Around 40 of them had strong connections with Hampshire. Alan Lloyd has painstakingly researched their stories to provide this record of their contribution as soldiers, nurses, doctors and pilots.

Kate MANGAN: Never More Alive – Inside the Spanish Republic  

Preface by Paul Preston

Kate Mangan went to Spain in search of her lover, Jan Kurzke,  who had joined the International Brigade. She ended up working for the Republic’s Press & Censorship office, visiting battlefronts and meeting a host of characters including Auden, Hemingway, Robert Capa and Gerda Taro. When Jan was injured she helped him escape across the border into France . This is her memoir.

David MARSHALL: The Tilting Planet   

David Marshall was born in Middlesbrough in 1916 and volunteered for the International Brigade in 1936. During his long life he was a civil servant, a theatre scenery builder, and Master of the Thames sailing barge “Jock”. This selection of his poems written over the course of his life was first published shortly before he died, in 2005.

Esmond ROMILLY: Boadilla  

The nephew that Winston Churchill disowned describes his experiences fighting with the International Brigade in the Battle of Madrid. Written on his honeymoon in St. Jean de Luz after he eloped with Jessica Mitford.

Frida STEWART: Firing a Shot for Freedom, The Memoirs of Frida Stewart           

Foreword and Afterword by Angela Jackson

Frida Stewart became involved with Aid for Spain ended up driving an ambulance out to Murcia. She worked for the Republican Press Office in Madrid, visiting the front and “firing a shot for freedom”. This is her story.

Frida STEWART: Dawn Escape 

Introduction by Angela Jackson

After the Spanish Civil War was lost, around half a million Republican loyalists fled across the border into France, where they were herded into concentration camps. Frida Stewart went to France to help. When the Germans invaded, she was arrested and sent to an internment camp. Then she escaped back to England with the help of the French Resistance. This is her memoir of those events, first published almost eighty years ago.

 F G TINKER JR: Some Still Live  

Tinker was a US pilot who signed up with the Republican forces because he didn’t like Mussolini. He was also attracted by the prospect of adventure and a generous pay cheque. Once in Spain, Tinker became the Republic’s ace pilot. In his free time he roamed the bars and hotels of Madrid in search of champagne and a hot bath, and getting drunk with Ernest Hemingway  This is his memoir.

Keith Scott WATSON: Single to Spain & Escape from Disaster   

Keith Scott Watson was a journalist who fought alongside Esmond Romilly in the International Brigades, “resigning” shortly before the Battle of Boadilla, where most of his British comrades were slaughtered. He stayed on in Spain and was one of the first reporters on the scene at Guernica after the bombardment and one of the last to leave Barcelona as Franco’s murderous forces swept in. These memoirs were first published in 1937 & 1940.