An enchanting tale of the complex and fascinating life of Luisa Abrego of Seville, an emancipated woman who forges a new future for herself in colonial Mexico and gets caught in the Spanish Inquisition.
Luisa Abrego, an enslaved woman in Seville, is impregnated by her master, then set free upon his death. With limited options for her future, Luisa agrees to marry a white man who wants to take her with him to Mexico, even though it means leaving her infant son behind in the care of nuns. The couple set off on a dangerous sea voyage and a perilous trek across unconquered territory, and when the settlers’ caravan is attacked by Indigenous warriors, Luisa is forced to kill a man in self-defence. Years later, still wracked with guilt and convinced she must atone for her sin, Luisa confesses to having made a promise of marriage to another man long before, in Spain. By the laws of the church this makes her a bigamist, a criminal who must be tried by the fearsome Inquisition.
Based on sixteenth-century trial records of the real Luisa, this novel is not just one woman’s life in fragments but a carefully researched imagining, told in the vivid, distinct voices of the Europeans who came into contact with her.
Luisa Abrego, an enslaved woman in Seville, is impregnated by her master, then set free upon his death. With limited options for her future, Luisa agrees to marry a white man who wants to take her with him to Mexico, even though it means leaving her infant son behind in the care of nuns. The couple set off on a dangerous sea voyage and a perilous trek across unconquered territory, and when the settlers’ caravan is attacked by Indigenous warriors, Luisa is forced to kill a man in self-defence. Years later, still wracked with guilt and convinced she must atone for her sin, Luisa confesses to having made a promise of marriage to another man long before, in Spain. By the laws of the church this makes her a bigamist, a criminal who must be tried by the fearsome Inquisition.
Based on sixteenth-century trial records of the real Luisa, this novel is not just one woman’s life in fragments but a carefully researched imagining, told in the vivid, distinct voices of the Europeans who came into contact with her.
Authors
- Pages
- 312
- Published in
- Toronto, CA
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- Halftitle 2
- Title 5
- Copyright 6
- Dedication 7
- Prologue: A silver mine in Zacatecas, 1575: 9
- 1 Seville, 1575: Ana Rodriguez, widow 13
- 2 Seville, 1575: Don Francisco, parish priest 42
- 3 Veracruz, Mexico, 1575: Captain Juan Diaz, ship owner 65
- 4 Zacatecas, Mexico, 1575: Alonso de Herrera, fiscal of the Inquisition 110
- 5 Zacatecas, 1574: Pedro de Ahumada, Alcalde 150
- 6 Zacatecas, 1575: Jorge Abrego, miner 171
- 7 Mexico City, 1575: The minutes of the trial of 203
- 8 Mexico City, 1575: Martin Acevedo, lawyer and notary 213
- 9 Seville, 1575: The Abbess of Saint Clare 226
- 10 Seville, 1575: The boy without name 251
- 11 Seville, 1575: Baltasar Ruiz, accountant 281
- Postscript: The harbour of Seville, 1576: Captain Juan Diaz 300
- Acknowledgements 309
- About the Author 311
- Discussion Questions 313