The Heart Has Its Reasons
A Novel
-
-
3.5 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $12.99
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
Declared “a writer to watch” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), New York Times bestselling author María Dueñas pours heart and soul into this story of a woman who discovers the power of second chances.
A talented college professor in Madrid, Blanca Perea seems to have it all. But her world is suddenly shattered when her husband of twenty years leaves her for another woman. Questioning the life she once had and whether she truly knows herself, Blanca resolves to change her surroundings. She accepts what looks like a boring research grant in California involving an exiled Spanish writer who died decades ago. Anxious to leave her own troubled life behind, she is gradually drawn into his haunted world, with its poignant loves and unfulfilled ambitions.
But in delving into the past, Blanca finds herself simultaneously awakened to the present by Daniel Carter, a charismatic professor with crucial knowledge about the dead writer that he has never before revealed. Amid this web of passion, conflict, and hidden feelings, including her own, Blanca advances like an avid detective, refusing to quit, and ultimately discovers startling answers that resonate deeply in her own life.
Evocative, lyrical, and humorous, The Heart Has Its Reasons is a journey of the soul from the pangs of the past to the vibrant present. It is a story about the thrill of creating one’s life anew.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
