The Cypresses Believe in God

Book excerpt: Considered by many critics to be the greatest novel about the Spanish Civil War, this classic work by Spaniard Jose Maria Gironella is an unbiased account of the complicated events, movements and personalities that led up to the war. Beginning in 1931, Cypresses covers the next five years of political unrest, culminating in the explosion of the brutal war that wreaked such great havoc on Spain and its citizens. In his epic novel, both gripping and suspenseful, Gironella deftly portrays the human conflict, both internal and external. The most influential philosophical movements of the 20th century are embodied in various characters. Through them, the reader is introduced to every faction involved--ancharist, communist, Catholic, royalist, existentialist, and others.