Books set in or about Spain, for a 14 year old

[UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername]

DD has just started learning Spanish and is really enjoying it, plus she's a total bookworm, so I'd like to get her some books set in Spain, or about it, for Christmas. Any suggestions?

It really depends on what kind of books your dd enjoys. I was a bookworm at a similar age and remember enjoying As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee, about his travels in Spain, the sequel to Cider with Rosie. There are quite a few classics set in Spain - Don Quixote, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Homage to Catalonia.

Joan Aiken's trilogy Go saddle the sea/Bridle the wind/teeth of the gale are excellent and set in Spain during the Peninsular Wars, following a teenager named Felix as he travels across Spain trying to get to England to find his father.

It says 9-11 years here but as it's a classic I think that's slightly too young, I'd say 12-14 really. I think I read it when I was about 13.

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/g/go-saddle-the-sea/

Geurnica if she is a massive and advanced reader as it's a bit of an epic

Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. Some of the politics might go over her head, but Orwell writes in a wonderfully clear and accessible way. He's the perfect writer for an intelligent young person.

What about something from South America (all Spanish speaking except Brazil)? Isabel Allende has written some YA books that she might enjoy, the first of which is The City of the Beasts.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón was a YA writer before he wrote The Shadow of the Wind (which itself reads quite YA). They aren't all translated into English but you can get The Prince of Mist and Marina.

Lovely suggestions, thanks! I'll have a browse now and end up buying them all.

The Ferdinand and Isabella trilogy from Jean Plaidy- historical fiction by numbers (similar to Philippa Gregory in complexity- ie, not) might suit for that age. That was the age that I read them give or take.

Fountains of silence by Ruta Sepytys. It’s a YA novel set in post Franco era but is at heart a love story.Interspersed with tiny bits of authentic historical comment from politicians at the time I cannot recommend it enough

Have you heard of the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. All the books have dual storylines, past and present. The past story in The Moon Sisters is set in Spain.

They’re adult books but probably okay for teenagers.

Carlos ruiz zafron without a doubt. Wonderful and very atmospheric.

Red towers of Granada is a beautiful piece of YA historical fiction set in UK and Spain

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho