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A Rainha Descalça (2014)

by Ildefonso Falcones(Favorite Author)

3.78 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Bertrand Editora

review 1: The Barefoot Queen is one of the best novels I've ever read. It has become an all-time favourite of mine. The setting is 18th century Spain, a brutal era where the gypsy people were persecuted, bringing to the forefront prejudics, adversity, and courage. The main characters are two women - Caridad, a freed slave who has always suffered abuse and neglect, and Milagros, who has always been surrounded by love and family. These two vastly different women are drawn to each other and soon, their worlds will collide bringing grave danger and immense changes to both their lives. The story culminates in a fabulously satisfying ending, with each subplot brought successfully to a close. Mr Falcones holds nothing back in recreating this violent period in history. He does not shirk awa... morey from describing the brutality, the sexual abuse of women, the murder of innocents. He tells the tale with a wonderful writing style that is rich and en pointe. The characters are so real, they were so memorable, I will never forget this story. This is a novel that will become a classic - it will endure for years and years to come. Truly brilliant!
review 2: Caridad is an African slave, forced to work on a tobacco plantation in Cuba for many years. She is unexpectedly freed when her master dies while she is accompanying him to Spain, but 'freedom,' it turns out, is relative, when she is dumped onto a foreign shore, penniless and ill-equipped to survive. By pure luck, she is, after some horrible misadventures, taken in by the gypsy community. She forms a bond with the man who takes her in, Melchor, and becomes fast friends with his granddaughter, Milagros.However, both bonds will be strained and torn by the turbulence of the world they live in. The gypsy community is both persecuted by the government and divided within itself. The gypsies live by their own laws, and too often those 'laws' are a dizzying swirl of old grudges and vicious vendettas. Life also isn't easy for any woman in 18th-century Spain, where husbands and patriarchs assume their word is law. The novel follows both women through the events of several years of their lives. It's rather a long book, but it kept my interest throughout. However, I felt that the third-person omniscient narration style made me feel a little bit distanced - from all the characters, but especially from Caridad. This may have been partly intentional, as, when we meet her, Caridad is seriously emotionally damaged and closed off from even her own feelings, as a defense mechanism. But I felt like I wanted to get closer to her.The setting here may be the star of the show - 18th-century Spain comes to colorful life through Falcones' excellent writing. I felt fully convinced of the verity of his depiction of the gypsy community and the research into the historical persecutions that they experienced seemed thorough. Many thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the opportunity to read this book. As always, my opinions are my own. less

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