The Heart Has Its Reasons

September 29, 2014
Duenas’s second novel (after The Time in Between) highlights a Spanish woman’s revelations as she escapes the heartbreak of her own life by studying a countryman whose life ended too soon. In 1999 Spain, linguistics professor Blanca Perea is devastated when her husband, the father of their two grown children, has left her for a younger woman who is carrying his child. Blanca is thrilled to accept a three-month fellowship at the University of Santa Cecelia, near San Francisco. Blanca’s primary assignment is to organize and assess documents once belonging to Andres Fontanta, a fellow Spaniard and former faculty member who died in the 1960s. At Santa Cecelia, Blanca meets former professor Daniel Carter, an American who spent time in Spain and knew Andres before his death. As Blanca digs through Andres’s documents, she learns about the missions that were started by the Franciscans in America and develops a closer friendship with Daniel. But she also uncovers secrets deeper than those found in the decades-old papers. Duenas’s novel is brilliantly executed, and it moves expertly between decades as it reveals truths of history and of humanity.

October 15, 2014
Blanca Perea's emotions are still raw after her husband leaves her for a much younger woman. When she hears that a new baby is in the picture, Blanca can think of nothing but escaping Madrid. As a college professor, a few research fellowships are immediately available to her, but the most appealing quality of the vacancy at the University of Santa Cecilia is the location. Tentatively settled in California and immersed in the life of a writer who died decades earlier, Blanca gains some much-needed perspective and realizes that the repercussions of this fellowship could be farther-reaching than she ever imagined. Blending academic intrigue and lost loves, The Heart Has Its Reasons combines Blanca's story with scenes from past lives. Dueas (The Time in Between, 2011) evokes 1930s and 1950s Spain through lushly detailed imagery, and her broad understanding and appreciation for the humanities are evident. Fans of Rachel Joyce and the film Mona Lisa Smile will adore this glimpse inside the ivory tower and one woman's attempt to rebuild her own life through the discovery of another's.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)