Description
Living in the "house on the lagoon." in an exclusive quarter of San Juan, Isabel Monfort, the rebellious wife of wealthy importer and amateur historian Quintin Mendizabal, asserts her independence by writing down the history of her own and her husband's families. But Quintin discovers her manuscript and begins to "correct" it by adding his notes in the margins. The resulting work is ironic. contentious, and utterly marvelous blend of male and female, privilege and servitude, history and memory, love and hate. Emerging from this colorful tapestry are larger-than-life characters, such as Quintin's father, Buenaventura, a modern day conquistador who arrives on the island July 4, 1917, the very day American citizenship was granted to Puerto Ricans: Isabel's lively grandmother, a feminist and crusader for social justice in a time and place where men ruled ruthlessly and absolutely and money and power were tightly secured in the hands of a few: Quintin's tragic brother, whose love affair with a beautiful mulatta ends in violence and creates a permanent rift in the family; and Petra Aviles, a housekeep er descended from African warrior chieftains who is also Buenaventura's right hand and keeper of all the secrets of the beautiful house on the lagoon.ISBN: 9780452277076
