Es 1953 y Kilian abandona la nieve de la montaña oscense para iniciar junto a su hermano, Jacobo, el viaje de ida hacia una tierra desconocida, lejana y exótica, la isla de Fernando Poo. En las entrañas de este territorio exuberante y seductor, le espera su padre, un veterano de la finca Sampaka, el lugar donde se cultiva y tuesta uno de los mejores cacaos del mundo.
En esa tierra eternamente verde, cálida y voluptuosa, los jóvenes hermanos descubren la ligereza de la vida social de la colonia en comparación con una España encorsetada y gris; comparten el duro trabajo necesario para conseguir el cacao perfecto de la finca Sampaka; aprenden las diferencias y similitudes culturales entre coloniales y autóctonos; y conocen el significado de la amistad, la pasión, el amor y el odio. Pero uno de ellos cruzará una línea prohibida e invisible y se enamorará perdidamente de una nativa. Su amor por ella, enmarcado en unas complejas circunstancias históricas, y el especial vínculo que se crea entre el colono y los oriundos de la isla transformarán la relación de los hermanos, cambiarán el curso de sus vidas y serán el origen de un secreto cuyas consecuencias alcanzarán el presente.
En el año 2003, Clarence, hija y sobrina de ese par de hermanos, llevada por la curiosidad del que desea conocer sus orígenes, se zambulle en el ruinoso pasado que habitaron Kilian y Jacobo y descubre los hilos polvorientos de ese secreto que finalmente será desentrañado.

421-2

I've had this book for a while, it was one of my Kindle Firsts from the beginning of the year but it was so long of an audiobook that I procrastinated. I thought of it again when I was looking for another audiobook for Women in Translation Month. Having the rest of the month to finish all 20 hours of listening didn't seem so daunting anymore. Yep, 20 HOURS. It was a good book and worth the read.

Palm Trees in the Snow covers quite a few issues as it moves through the story. There is the good and bad of colonization, scenes in Spain and the island of Bioko, love, unrequited love, brotherly love, interracial relationships in different periods, conflicts over independence, rape, and so much more. It does a great job of representing the conflict between what people believed they were doing when they colonized others forms of civilization and what was really going on. The story does center quite a bit on the white people who colonized the island during the fifties, but there is respect given to that colonizing was not actually the best thing for the inhabitants of the island. To me, it really humanized both sides without casting judgement on either. I particularly love books that do that, not because I think of oppressors as innocent, but I like it when authors let me see it for myself.

I hesitate to rate it higher, despite all the issues it deals well with, because the story itself wasn't unexpected nor did it give some new insight into what colonization was about. It was a good story that I enjoyed reading. I loved the twists and turns and that made me doubt where it was going, but it pretty much went where I expected it too. The time jumps were a big part of the fun between Clarence's investigation into her family's history and hearing the firsthand account of Kilian. As mentioned above, I listened to the audiobook which had two narrators to accommodate the two point of view characters. They were Angela Dawe and Malcolm Hillgartner. ( )

Es uno de estos libros que se quedan dentro de tí. ( )

Misschien door mijn gebrek aan kennis van de geschiedenis van Spanje, heb ik mij echt door deze roman heen moeten worstelen. ( )