Caroline Angus Baker

Secrets of Spain Trilogy: Blood in the Valenian Soil - Vengeance in the Valencian Water - Death in the Valencian Dust Caroline Angus Baker

Publisher Marketing: Available as a set for the first time, the 'Secrets of Spain' Trilogy brings BLOOD IN THE VALENCIAN SOIL, VENGEANCE IN THE VALENCIAN WATER and DEATH IN THE VALENCIAN DUST together in a collector's edition. The best-selling series tells the story of two families, separated by the Spanish Civil War, and reunited in the 21st century as Spain's haunted past helps to free the lost souls of the present. Each book flows between two different timelines, to tell stories of life in 20th century Spain, and how past mistakes still impact life today. BLOOD IN THE VALENCIAN SOIL Spain, March 1939 - the Spanish Civil War is coming to an end. Five young Republicans in the small town of Cuenca know they are on the losing side of the war. History only recognises the winners, and the group know they could die, all destined to become faceless statistics... Seventy years later, bicycle mechanic Luna Montgomery wants to find her grandfather. He is one of the 'disappeared', one of the thousands murdered after the Spanish Civil War. Luna forms an unlikely friendship with a Madrileno bullfighter, Cayetano Beltran Morales, but they discover there are old wounds that have yet to heal underneath Spain's 'pact of forgetting'... VENGEANCE IN THE VALENCIAN WATER Spain, October 1957 -Guardia Civil officers Jose Morales Ruiz and Fermin Belasco Ibarra devise an intricate system of stealing babies, to be sold to paying Catholic families. But as the October rains fall, the dry Valencian streets fill with muddy water, and only greed and self-preservation will survive... Over fifty years later, Luna Montgomery and Cayetano Beltran Morales have another mass grave to uncover, at Escondrijo, in the Valencian mountains. When Cayetano's grandfather, Jose, an evil Franco supporter, starts to push his ideas on Luna, her decision to join the Beltran family comes under scrutiny. But when 'accident' occurs at Escondrijo, lives hang in the balance as more of Spain's ghosts come to life and tell the story of a flood in 1957... DEATH IN THE VALENCIAN DUST Spain, September 1975 - Dictator Francisco Franco is dying, but his parting words are leaving a bitter legacy. Jaime Morales Pena, sword handler for Spain's greatest bullfighter, finds himself caught up with a young Basque woman named Alazne. As executions are handed down, Spain collapses into turmoil in the shadow of their leader's death... Almost forty years later, it's the final season for Spain's favourite bullfighter, Cayetano Beltran Morales. Guided by his father and Uncle Jaime, Cayetano is reluctant to let go of his magnificent career. His wife, Luna Montgomery, is still fighting Spain's 'pact of forgetting'. The Beltran Morales family must at last recognise their identity, where they sit in Spain's turbulent present, and their potentially fractured future. But death still lurks in the Valencian mountains..." Contributor Bio:  Angus Baker, Caroline CAROLINE ANGUS BAKER is a New Zealand author. A trained sailmaker, Caroline has gone from long hours behind sewing machines, to competing in national sailing competitions, to attending international sailing regattas. She has cycled down Hawaiian volcanoes, been served dinner by billionaires, bumped into supermodels and movie stars, fumbled to find the right words on Italian live television, walked the red carpet at fashion events, fought off Moroccan muggers, soaked up a Norwegian Christmas, watched whales in Canada, slept on the floor in Dubai, played in the German snow, partied on the Great Barrier Reef, got lost in London, passed out in Thailand and dodged bushfires in Australia. A Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Italian culture and years of keeping a diary of life in Spain later, Caroline returned to New Zealand, and began to write all she had seen and heard. After a Diploma in Business, and thousands of hours studying the Spanish civil war, Spanish and bullfighting history, it became Caroline's time to turn to fiction. From growing up humble in small town New Zealand to travelling the world, she now lives in Auckland, New Zealand with her husband and four young sons. Another adventure could be just around the corner.