Donde fuimos invencibles / Where We Were Invincible
A breath-taking plot set in Cantabria. A story full of crucial themes where all the characters have something to tell and something to hide. An investigation conducted between two worlds.
Although Valentina does not believe in the paranormal, she, her team and even her partner, Oliver will find themselves in the midst of unusual successive events. Drawn into the investigation of what has occurred in a rather outlandish and abnormal way, they will find out that some places capture a surprising timeless and secret spirit and that all the characters have something to tell and something to hide. The summer is over and Officer Valentina Redondo is counting the days to begin her holidays. But something strange happens in the very centre of the coastal village of Suances: the gardener in the old Palacio del Amo is found dead on the lawn of this mysterious property. The Palace is one of the large houses in the area that is steeped in history but has not been inhabited for a long time. The American writer, Carlos Green, its inheritor decides to settle for a time in the place where he spent his best summers as a young man. But the peace he was looking for is shattered by this terrible occurrence. Everything indicates that the gardener died a natural death but it turns out that someone touched the body and Carlos admits that in the past few days he perceived strange manifestations.
The atmosphere in Palacio del Amo captures us in this story of enigmas and secrets”. “The story is as entertaining as it is complex. With María Oruña it is always worthwhile to mind the details.
The novel, between the intrigue and police investigation, conceals the duel between faith and reason, between those who accept the existence of spirits and those who smile with a sneer at the sound of the word.” “A hidden phenomenon of María Oruña.
…a step beyond the game of intrigue creates an image which strengthens both the characters and the story.” “María Oruña again demonstrated her ability to create compact plots, to draw unconventional characters with such psychological traits as to make them unpredictable.
In When We Were Invincible, María Oruña invents a disturbing plot set in Cantabria with one foot in the psychological thriller and the other in the phantasmagorical mystery novel where all the characters have something to tell.” “María Oruña builds a subtle intrigue thus paying a tribute not only to the best mystery novels but also to the tradition of ghost stories.
María Oruña skilfully operates on different time planes, intersperses narrators and shows how much she has evolved in a very short time.
María Oruña (…) has salvaged from oblivion one of those little great stories well known in small villages.