Belli, Gioconda

Manuel, a forty something history professor in Spain, seduces Luc?a, a seventeen-year-old Latin American-born orphan attending a Catholic boarding school in Madrid, as he tells her the story of Juana of Castile, a queen who, after the death of her husband, was imprisoned by his family for allegedly being mentally unstable.

Gioconda Belli reflects on her life, from her privileged childhood in Nicaragua, her mid-life dissatisfaction with her role as a wife and mother, her writing career, and her involvement in the Sandinista Revolution.

Story of a successful woman architect who seems to be living the dream life but when she feels inhabited by the spirit of an Indian woman warrior, Livinia abandons her life of privilege and joins a revolutionary movement planning the overthrow of a harsh dictator.