takethyme's review against another edition
3.0
Long, long ago, before writing her Regencies, westerns, historicals and LDS-themed romances, [b:Daughter of Fortune|114244|Daughter of Fortune|Carla Kelly|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1326077689s/114244.jpg|110007] was released. Before that, Mrs. Kelly had some stories issued in magazines. Without a violence filter, this historical fiction was originally written in 1985 based on a true-life incident. It would be four more years before [b:Summer Campaign|2789664|Summer Campaign|Carla Kelly|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1227301212s/2789664.jpg|2815431], a much lighter fare, was published.
in 1679, Maria Luisa Espinosa de la Garza was a 15-year-old orphan when she set out by wagon from Mexico City to the colony of New Mexico. Pampered and groomed, she was the daughter of wealth and position. This was shortly before her father lost his affluence and her parents died from cholera. She was traveling in order to meet and live with her only living relative, an older married sister.
Six months had passed; her trip was almost over when a band of Apaches attacked and killed everyone but Maria. It was gruesome. After the slaughter, she was saved from certain death by 19-year-old Diego Masferrer, a landowner from Santa Fe. She could tell he was young but the intense sun along with his responsibilities had aged him.
~At this point I need to mention two things. Mrs. Kelly wrote her MCs with an older aura to match the historical time period. I never thought of them as 'teenagers'. And the comment Mrs. Kelly wrote at the beginning of the 1986 hardcover edition I read, said it all: "I can make no apologies for the events or the people depicted in this novel. These things happened, no matter how we in this century view the 1680 Pueblo uprising. Seen in historical perspective, these Spanish New Mexicans lived and died in the belief that what they did was right and just. If we see their actions differently, it is because we live in a more enlightened, if not less cruel, age."~
Maria was without wealth or a dowry when she finally met and was refused by her mean-spirited, now-widowed sister. Her choices were to become homeless and a ward of the town or find Diego. She chose the latter.
In some ways I could tell without looking at the original date that this was Mrs. Kelly's first complete novel. She researched the era in an orderly fashion. The Revolt of 1680 was a rebellion of mostly Pueblo people against the Spanish colonizers that used them as slaves in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. I felt an immense empathy for the various Indian tribes that went up against their enforcers even though the acts they performed were horrendous and despicable.
Read this only if you love history or are a big fan of Mrs. Kelly, as I am. There is a romance but it takes a distant second place to this tragedy.
in 1679, Maria Luisa Espinosa de la Garza was a 15-year-old orphan when she set out by wagon from Mexico City to the colony of New Mexico. Pampered and groomed, she was the daughter of wealth and position. This was shortly before her father lost his affluence and her parents died from cholera. She was traveling in order to meet and live with her only living relative, an older married sister.
Six months had passed; her trip was almost over when a band of Apaches attacked and killed everyone but Maria. It was gruesome. After the slaughter, she was saved from certain death by 19-year-old Diego Masferrer, a landowner from Santa Fe. She could tell he was young but the intense sun along with his responsibilities had aged him.
~At this point I need to mention two things. Mrs. Kelly wrote her MCs with an older aura to match the historical time period. I never thought of them as 'teenagers'. And the comment Mrs. Kelly wrote at the beginning of the 1986 hardcover edition I read, said it all: "I can make no apologies for the events or the people depicted in this novel. These things happened, no matter how we in this century view the 1680 Pueblo uprising. Seen in historical perspective, these Spanish New Mexicans lived and died in the belief that what they did was right and just. If we see their actions differently, it is because we live in a more enlightened, if not less cruel, age."~
Maria was without wealth or a dowry when she finally met and was refused by her mean-spirited, now-widowed sister. Her choices were to become homeless and a ward of the town or find Diego. She chose the latter.
In some ways I could tell without looking at the original date that this was Mrs. Kelly's first complete novel. She researched the era in an orderly fashion. The Revolt of 1680 was a rebellion of mostly Pueblo people against the Spanish colonizers that used them as slaves in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. I felt an immense empathy for the various Indian tribes that went up against their enforcers even though the acts they performed were horrendous and despicable.
Read this only if you love history or are a big fan of Mrs. Kelly, as I am. There is a romance but it takes a distant second place to this tragedy.
darlenemarshall's review
3.0
Die-hard Kelly fans may want to read this, her first published novel, but it's not like her later romance novels. The setting is interesting--we usually don't find historical fiction set in the 17th C. US Southwest--but it's more women's fiction or straight historical than it is a historical romance.
Nonetheless, there is a love story in it, with the kind of flawed characters that helped Kelly establish her reputation in Regencies. There are also scenes of extremely graphic violence which are integral to the story, but may not be what the reader is expecting.
Nonetheless, there is a love story in it, with the kind of flawed characters that helped Kelly establish her reputation in Regencies. There are also scenes of extremely graphic violence which are integral to the story, but may not be what the reader is expecting.
More...