About the book
Hunting Lions in Scotland is narrated by multiple voices in the first person. Miranda Herrera is the protagonist and the main voice, as she narrates nineteen of the twenty-eight chapters of the novel. Cata, her mother, narrates three, and six other characters—Silvana, Alejandra, Camille, Antonio, Bertrand and Amélie—recount one chapter each. The stories of Cata and Silvana go back in time, on a journey several decades ago. We learn about the lives of two extraordinary women who faced conventions and the family and social pressures of a time not conducive to female freedom. They also offer us the keys that help us understand the complexity of the emotional puzzle that Miranda faces. The other voices allow us to advance in the narrative and complete the psychological profile of the three protagonists. The information is not repeated and with each change of point of view, new data is provided that enriches the plot.
Cruz Sánchez de Lara offers us a well-written and highly entertaining novel. Starting from trivial – even superficial – situations, she delves into the inner world of the protagonists. All three belong to wealthy families, as do the men who burst into their lives. There is luxury and splendor, yes, but also disappointments and some tragedy, which they face with fortitude.
The novel is a perfect example of what Americans call women’s fiction: the story of a woman on the verge of transforming her life and beginning a period of personal growth. On this inner journey, emotional reflection and action transform her and give a new meaning to her relationships with others. Love has a strong charge of hope.
The settings in which the characters move are real. We present them in another section of this dossier. They are hotels, restaurants, cafes, museums, art galleries and shops that are common in luxury publications. The residences and offices of the protagonists are located on well-known streets in cities such as Paris, Madrid or Lisbon.
Cruz Sánchez de Lara shows a special skill in describing these places. A few brushstrokes are enough to immerse the reader in the setting and the atmosphere. This highly visual descriptive ability is reflected metaphorically in the works of art, the paintings, which play a very important role in the novel. A perfect symbiosis of form and content.
Most of the artists, chefs from prestigious restaurants, famous bartenders and even a few diplomats who appear in the pages of Hunting Lions in Scotland are also real and form a gallery of first-class cameos. We invite you to discover them.
Hunting Lions in Scotland addresses the issue of motherhood from different points of view, depending on who is telling the story. As we have already seen, Cata “discovered very quickly that motherhood was not a vocation for her, but a responsibility.” It is Miranda who analyses her relationship with her mother in this way. She continues: “From a woman like that, you inherit more than just material things. I don’t have any siblings and I listened to her about not being a mother.”
Alejandra, Cata’s best friend, explained to Miranda that her mother had evolved in an abysmal way in Silvana’s shadow. Although Silvana was her husband’s mother, she always advised her to keep her own assets. Silvana also gave her granddaughter a watch and a copy of the first edition of A Room of One’s Own for her first communion. Independence and autonomy were a mantra she chanted like a lullaby for her daughter-in-law and granddaughter.
There are hardly any happy marriages in Hunting Lions in Scotland. Cata’s parents’ marriage is one of the few exceptions. The novel deals with, among other things, the search for emotional happiness both inside and outside of marriage. Silvana and Cata had lovers because their marriages were failing. Silvana was aware that Cata, married to a homosexual, “needed to smell other bodies, draw on other skins and experience debauchery and frenzy.” They both agreed that, when the inevitable moment arrived, they would do it in the best way possible, so that the women of the three generations would remain united, “giving Ciro all the security and fulfilling his ego as much as he needed it.”
Cruz Sánchez de Lara uses different symbols and narrative figures to highlight the importance of memory. In the novel, the different narrators also have different points of view on what happened in the past. The scene in which Miranda opens a box and discovers the images and memories of her maternal grandparents is especially moving. It is also symbolic that the person who knew Cata best, her friend Alejandra, cannot explain anything about her because of the Alzheimer’s she suffers from. The memory of the absent people, Silvana, Cata and Paul, constantly hovers over Cazar leónes en Escocia.
Source: https://algunoslibrosbuenos.com/cazar-leones-en-escocia
