Books have the power to let your mind transcend across times, cultures and almost every aspect of life. I don't always come across books of women disguising as men so I was quite intrigued by this one.
This is the story of Maria Purificacion a.k.a. Puri who embarked on a journey to Vinces, Ecuador with her husband who was an aspiring writer to claim a generous inheritance. While they were still on their way, a strange man threatened Puri's life, ending her husband's in her defence. Distraught, Puri felt that she couldn't reveal her identity in fear that one of those who knew about her inheritance wanted her dead. So, donning her husband's clothes and identity, she marched into the cacao plantation that her father left her and investigated the family that she didn't know about.
Rocky start
I didn't feel so connected with the book in the beginning. There were a couple of things that I wasn't sure I followed and some that just annoyed me.
For example, the night her husband was killed, they got into an argument that he wasn’t paying attention to what she wanted to do because he was too busy writing his book. However, on a much more present day when she was already missing her husband, she described him as someone who’s always eager to please her. That he didn't want to come to Vinces but went against his will for her.
There were far too many repetitions of “did he/she recognise my disguise” or expressions of relief that she is not being recognised. It does remind me of when someone is hiding from another person and keeps asking “did he see me?” Like, we get it, you’re doing a great job in disguise now please stop talking about it because we’ll definitely know when your mask has fallen.
Unveiling the masks
Puri did not knew about her father's family since he never talked about them. It just made sense that she would doubt all of their characters and intentions. She bought herself two weeks by lying that Puri died in the boat due to influenza and her death certificate would take that long to process. She took this time to get to know her siblings and her father's trusted worker, Martin.
Instead of hate, she began to grow sympathy for them. Angelica did all that she can to gain her father's approval though her father always made sure to make her feel that was always second to Puri, the only legitimate child. Catalina, her other sister, was held up to saintly expectations but was secretly living a double life as a regular human being with sins. Her brother Alberto was a priest and even if he made a big mistake, he's also didn't seem like he could take the life of another. Lastly, Martin has been loyal to her father even after his death. Even if he expressed interests in buying her share, he also had some good in him.
Puri found herself at crossroads of vigilance and sympathy for the people she could call as family.
Family Secrets
We are treated to not only Puri's point of view in this book but also some of Catalina and Angelica's childhood as well. To be honest, I didn't really find their point of views very significant and I scanned my way through most of it. I thought their POVs could have just been conversations not very lengthy and detailed versions.
Like the good Spanish fictional family drama that we're familiar with in television, this also has a great deal of that. We find one secret after another and we could only hope as the story progressed that this too, would give us clues on who threatens Puri's life.
At some point, I felt what I thought Puri might have felt - the confusion on who to point fingers to.
In conclusion...
This was a good, easy read. There was a lot of family drama, secrets, just a tiny bit of romance and some quaint mystery. At times I did feel disconnected to the book but I still persisted because I knew something good was going to come out of it.
This is not the best book on my list. Nonetheless, it's very fascinating and very interesting.
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