Arranged
marriages
A
runaway bride
Sisters
Adultery
Witchcraft
A
woman doctor
Secrets
The
Sandoval diaries
"I really liked this story. There were certain parts that were just so real when I read them that it was hard to not get involved with the Sandoval sisters."*
Santa Fe was the first foreign capital captured by the U.S. An unbelievable influx of men occurred, but nary a word has been written about how that affected the New Mexican women. Until now.
I grew up in Santa Fe and spent summers in Texas, but now make my home in Los Angeles with my husband, two sons, a dog, a cat and two quarrelsome parakeets.
- Cast of Characters:
- Oratoria Sandoval: "I first entered the Sandoval
compound a barefoot slave . . . Estevan had traded for me—a bag of flour for a ragged peasant girl of five—after I had been captured by Apaches in Mexico. He brought me to this high mountain desert, to Santa Fé, the City of Holy Faith, as a wedding present for his bride. I became doña Teresa’s favorite, who was sixteen and far from her family in Mexico City. She taught me to read and to cook, and christened me Oratoria because of my skill with languages. - Alma Sandoval: "I’d been in the grip of ancient memories, reciting a list of family secrets that stretched back for centuries. I’d developed an eccentric reputation in Santa Fé, even for a Sandoval. I wasn’t sure if the memories were from an unknown part of my mind, or if they came from reading Sandoval diaries when I was much too young."
- Pilar Sandoval: "I’d read a few
. . . Bunch of whiners and schemers, if you ask me. I like creatures who are half this and half that, in myth's and biblical stories, not in my flesh and blood relatives." - Geraldo Quintana: “I’m no saint,” he said. “I loved my wives, but I was a young man, selfish and uninformed. Penetration, the young man’s dream, is not all there is to lovemaking.”
- Consuelo Benavides: “You Sandovals think you can take everything. You’ll suffer. I’ll make you pay for what you’ve stolen from me!”
- L.B.: “Mexes ain’t too poplah round here, but I guess you knows it already . . . you as white as B.B., Miz Alma. You could pass fa her daughter. Make the most of it, girl. Passin’ is good.”
The first chapter can be found here and here.
"This is a
book about personal power and what women achieved because they were willing to
"speak their truth". This is a book that every parent should give to
their daughters, regardless of whether their daughter are 15 or 65."*
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1 THE SECRETS 1
2 A DANGEROUS TIME FOR GRINGOS 9
3 SPANISH LESSONS 13
4 CHILD’S PLAY 24
5 A SISTER FOR A SISTER 29
6 THE BACK ROAD TO TEXAS 38
7 HALF-BREEDS AND PEDIGREES 45
8 PASSING GOOD 57
9 THE FOURTH WIFE 63
10 SUMMER’S KISS, WINTER’S EMBRACE 66
11 POLLARD’S CORNER 70
12 DREAMWIFE 82
13 HOMECOMING 90
14 OF NUNS 96
15 JEZEBEL 105
16 THE DEMIMONDE 111
17 LA SOLTERA 118
18 HISTORY LESSONS 126
19 FRIENDS AND LOVERS 136
20 A WOMAN DOCTOR 144
21 SEÑORA SANDOVAL 148
22 THE FIRST WHITE WOMAN 161
23 SONS AND LOVERS 173
24 THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER 180
25 AT THE PLAZA 187
26 PESTILENCE 201
27 ABOGADO 220
28 THE SANDOVAL WIDOWS 230
29 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE ON THE FRONTIER 250
30 THE SECRETS FORETOLD 258
Posts
Thanks for the background, Sandra, this is not a place or time I knew anything about until now.
ReplyDeleteEven though I grew up there, Richard, we were not taught how the U.S. philosophy of Manifest Destiny affected New Mexico. Perhaps I was playing hooky that day.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I've read a book like yours, Sandra. Will definitely check it out. Thanks for showcasing the characters.
ReplyDeleteKiru, lots of books on mail order brides or women captured by Indians, but nothing in this time period on Latinas. The anecdotal comments from the period depict them as deferring to their husband, fathers, brothers and priests, or brazen because they wore no corsets and smoked. For the most part they're ignored and the focus is on the men and any white women who happened to venture across the Santa Fe Trail.
ReplyDelete