Concha’s book is a microhistory of the Spanish Civil War at an individual level. Of primary relevance is that Dr. Alborg’s mother lived in Valencia, which in November 1936, became the official capital of the Republican government.  There she had an insider’s view of the political and military situation that informed her description of the contrasting burdens of family life in Valencia and her fiancé soldier’s life on the front lines. She is truly an archetype of the women who grew up under the liberal Second Spanish Republic (1931–39), only to be silenced during Franco’s repressive dictatorship (1939-75).
Dr. Concha Alborg was born in Valencia, Spain. She has lived in the United States since the 1960s’ where she received a Masters from Emory University and a Ph.D. from Temple University. She was a professor of contemporary Spanish literature at Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia. Her academic publications include Cinco figuras en torno a la novela de posguerra, a critical edition of Caza menor, Temas y técnicas en la narrativa de Jesús Fernández Santos.