In its moment of great splendor the novel was held as a mirror of society: Merce Rodoreda shatters that mirror in this, her most ambitious novel, which tells its story in brilliant fragments, a vision reflected and refracted and finally coming together in a richly articulated mosaic of life. Through this Broken Mirror, the reader sees events and characters spanning three generations and composing a kaleidoscopic family history ranging over six decades and turning upon events both intimate and historic most notably the Spanish Civil War.

Opening with Teresa Goday, the lovely young...