El colmado de La Esperanza

"Colmado La Esperanza" (The Hope Grocery) was the evocative sign—gold lettering on dark wood—that hung above the doorway of his shop. Whenever anyone asked about the name, his answer would vary, ranging from a promising professional future to peace on Earth; he never revealed the true reason. From Córdoba to Granada, and from Montilla to Rome and Tangier, lives that began apart eventually intertwine into a single story of unexpected friendships, tested loves, and old scores that someone, sooner or later, comes to settle. Córdoba, 1925. Fali Santisteban has pinned all his hopes on the small grocery store he has just opened on Calle de la Plata; in a city stingy toward those who rise from humble beginnings, that counter represents his only chance to forge a future. Among his customers is Monique de Montcuit—beautiful and strong-willed—for whom he harbors feelings he cannot confess due to the barriers of social class. Neither of them imagines how short-lived the enterprise he has built with such effort will prove to be. Monique, too, embarks on her own path. In Granada, where she takes her first steps as a teacher, she witnesses the impact a school can have on children who have nothing—until an incident in her classroom reveals a city far murkier than she had imagined. Hovering nearby is Saturio Torrijos, a man who flaunts his prejudices without shame, bends his principles to suit his own ends, and stops at nothing to get his way.