Novel
Monja y casada, virgen y mártir
Not translated into English
Vicente Riva Palacio · 1868
Synopsis
Mexico City, the night of 3 July 1615. Around the founding of the convent of Santa Teresa la Antigua, which doña Beatriz de Rivera wants at all costs, intrigues and plots take shape: an oidor, the archbishop, a Black slave, Teodoro, and the bachiller Martín Garatuza, a resourceful swindler. At the centre, doña Blanca de Mejía, whom her brother don Pedro holds under his thumb, must face her family's decision, betrayals and soon the Inquisition in order to defend her love.
Context
The novel appeared in 1868, first in instalments, then in volume from the publisher Manuel C. de Villegas; in his covering letter, dated 8 July, the author assures that his characters and episodes are historical and that he found data in the archives. The sequel, Martín Garatuza, appeared before the end of the same year. Fed on the novels of Dumas, the book opens a series of colonial novels in which Garatuza serves as a common thread, and makes the Inquisition the target of a liberal plea.
Who it is for
A long serial novel with multiple intrigues, easy to read but crowded with characters; no French or English translation.
Prizes and reception
One of the most widely read Mexican novels of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; it helped to found the Mexican novel.
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