A sweeping historical novel set during the Spanish Inquisition, centring on the real life of Luisa Abrega, a freed slave who became the first woman of mixed race to marry a white man in 16th century Spain and was tried by the Inquisition for bigamy
The glimpses of Luisa's story emerge from the narratives of witnesses, including a mayor, her husband, an Abbess, an aristocratic mistress, and more
Author is a retired history professor, specializing in Medieval period/Spanish Inquisition, who has published 40 books, fiction and non-fiction, most recently The Loneliness of the Time Traveller (Toronto: Inanna 2022) and Evita and Me (Denver: DX Varos 2022)
Author is the recipient of a fellowship at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, guest professorships in Utah and Arizona, fellowships in Germany, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Renaissance Society of America
Her previous fiction has won Best Historical Novel award of the Colorado Independent Publishers for The Inquisitor’s Niece
Author is an Associate at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at UCLA
Author residence: Santa Monica (Jan to April) and Toronto (May to December)