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Gioconda Belli's book focuses on Manuel, an art historian and professor, and a 16-year-old maiden promised in marriage to Prince Phillipe the Handsome.
Rayo Book and CD Publisher
September 2006
On Sale: September 19, 2006
Featuring: Manuel; Lucia
336 pages ISBN: 0060833122 EAN: 9780060833121 Hardcover
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Historical | Contemporary | Fiction
Manuel is a man of many talents; an art historian and
professor, he is also an exquisite storyteller. When he
meets 16-year-old Lucía on an outing from her boarding
school, he offers to narrate a story of dire
consequences-that of the Spanish Queen Juana of Castile and
her legendary love for her husband, Philippe the Handsome. Promised to Prince Philippe the Handsome to solidify ties
between the Flemish and Spanish crowns, Queen Juana
immediately fell in love with her betrothed with all the
abandon and passion of her fiery personality. Theirs was one
of the most tumultuous love stories of all time. But Juana, who was also one of the most learned princesses
of the Renaissance, was forced to pay a high price for being
headstrong and daring to be herself. Those at court who
could not fathom Juana as heir to the throne of the most
important empire of its day conspired against her and began
to question her sanity. Eventually she came to be known as
Juana the Mad. But was she really insane, or just a victim
of her impetuosity and unbridled passion? As the novel unfolds, Lucía and Manuel become enmeshed in a
complex psychological web that seduces and incites them to
relive Juana and Philippe's story, and eventually leads them
to a mysterious manuscript that may hold the key to Juana's
alleged madness.
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