Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, lived quite an interesting life. He was a poet, soldier, war hero, prisoner, husband, brother, uncle, father, and author. His writing might portray a man of honor and dignity, but his home life was messy. You see, Miguel was married, but his daughter was not the daughter of his wife, Catalina de Salazar. His daughter, Isabel, was illegitimate, and when her mother died, Miguel decided the best possible solution was to invite Isabel to live with his sisters and his niece. What’s the worst that could happen? Martha Batiz explores the women’s lives connected to Miguel de Cervantes in her debut novel, “A Daughter’s Place.”
I would like to thank the House of Anansi Press and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this novel. I had never read Don Quixote, and I knew nothing about Miguel de Cervantes or his family, so I was excited to learn more. Stories like this add depth to the understanding of the late 16th and early 17th centuries in Spain and Europe as a whole.
This novel is broken into five sections and contains three different narrators: Isabel, the illegitimate daughter of Miguel de Cervantes, Constanza de Ovando, Miguel’s niece, and Catalina de Salazar, Miguel’s wife. Our story begins with Isabel, who just turned fifteen. All of her life, she believed that she was the daughter of a tavern owner, that is, until she met Magdalena de Cervantes, who claims to be her aunt, as Isabel’s true father is none other than the famous war hero turned author Miguel de Cervantes. After the death of Isabel’s mother, Miguel has decided to have Magdalena as Isabel’s legal guardian and raise her to be part of his family, although not with the de Cervantes name. Constanza de Ovando has been dumped after a long engagement and is nearing the age of spinsterhood. She is jealous of Isabel and wonders if she will ever marry and have her own life. Finally, we have Catalina de Salazar, who lives far away from the family and did not know that her husband, Miguel, had an illegitimate child.
We see this family slowly adjust to having a new family member and the repercussions of Isabel being part of the de Cervantes family. While the family is getting used to one another, King Philip III of Spain threw a monkey wrench into their plans as he moved the royal court from Madrid to Valladolid and back to Madrid. Since Miguel is writing his magnum opus, Don Quixote, and is looking for sponsors, the family has to move alongside the court, which causes its special kinds of headaches and heartbreaks. There are so many twists and turns, especially the last twist, that kept me guessing until the end of how this novel was going to end.
Batiz has created such a believable world of 16th and 17th century Spain with a colorful cast of characters in the de Cervantes family. I got very attached to this family, and to see what would happen to them as life kept causing chaos. As a debut historical fiction novel, this is such an enjoyable, beautifully written, and extremely well-researched novel, and I hope that Batiz continues to write historical fiction. If you want an excellent novel about one of the most celebrated authors in Spanish history and his family, I highly recommend you read “A Daughter’s Place” by Martha Batiz.
Florence, Italy, in the 16th century, was a city of opportunity and full of art and architecture. It was also a city on the precipice of great change. The great banking family, the Medicis, holds the reins of government in Florence, and Lorenzo de’ Medici is the family’s current head. However, two bastards will radically change his life and the Medici family. One was a bastard son of a notary who became one of the most famous artists ever. The other was a bastard son who became a priest and the enemy of the Medici family. Their stories of power and ambition intersect in the city of Florence in Phil Melanson’s debut novel, “Florenzer”.
When we think about the period known as the Renaissance, we often think about Italy and the artists like painters and sculptors. However, other craftsmen made Italy their home. Take, for example, tailors and seamstresses. These skilled craftsmen and women can create art you can walk in with their hands. However, there are gender barriers between tailors and seamstresses in that only men can be tailors and only women can be seamstresses. One orphan girl from Bologna not only challenges what it means to be a woman tailor but also challenges one of the wealthiest merchants in the entire city who has a dark connection to her past. This is the premise for Glennis Virgo’s debut novel, “City of Silk.”
Have you ever read about a historical figure and wondered what it would be like to interact with them in the present day? How would they deal with modern problems and technology? Could they function in the 21st century or would they become overwhelmed? And even if they could come to the 21st century, how would it affect their timeline and history? This intriguing premise plays out in Maria Vetrano’s novel, “Queen Bess: A Tudor Comes to Save America,” which sees Queen Elizabeth I coming forward about 400 years in time to become the President of the United States in the 2028 election.
The Wars of the Roses was a time filled with dynamic figures who fought for the right to restore order to England. We often think about the strong warrior men who marched into battle, facing their inevitable doom just for the chance to wear the crown and rule the land. The women who stood by their husbands’ and sons’ sides were just as strong as their male counterparts, even if they did not wear armor. They were on the sidelines, ensuring that they could create alliances that would prove helpful in future conflicts. The most famous examples of strong women during the Wars of the Roses are Margaret of Anjou, Margaret Beaufort, and Elizabeth Woodville. Yet, there was another woman who stood firmly on the side of the Yorkist cause. She was known as the Rose of Raby and the wife of Richard, Duke of York. Her name was Cecily Neville, and she is the protagonist of Annie Garthwaite’s brilliant debut novel, “Cecily.”
When one studies the history of the English monarchy, we tend to consider those who ruled and those who advised the ruler as significant characters. We rarely study the family members of the monarch who did not win the right to rule the kingdom. Yet, they are often either extremely loyal or they desire the crown with such ferocity that they rebel against their own family. It seems like a rather cruel world, but that was the life of a medieval monarch. True loyalty for one’s family was a rare feat. One man showed the depth of his loyalty to his family, even when the people despised him. He was the son of King Edward III, the brother of the famous Black Prince, the uncle of King Richard II, and the father of Henry Bolingbroke who would become King Henry IV. Gaunt’s reputation and legacy have been marred by his wealth and the role that he played with the Peasants’ Revolt, but was he such a bad person? In Helen Carr’s brilliant debut biography, “The Red Prince: The Life of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster”, she looks to uncover the truth about the man behind the throne and why he never desired the crown for himself.
Adventures of a Tudor Nerd 