This is a must read for all those women who think they are too jealous. It is a tale of passion and woe, a reminder that not all stories have happy endings.Juana, third child of 15th-century Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, was so in love with her husband, the husband Philippe that she was even jealous of his corpse. She was written off as insane, but Nicaraguan author Gioconda Belli tells a different tale—she speaks of an outspoken woman whose passions so intimidated men that she was imprisoned rather than be allowed to rule. In Belli’s story-in-a-story, translated by Lisa Dillman, Manuel, a mysterious story teller uses Juana’s saga to seduce a 16-year-old orphan, at a Madrid boarding school. While the setup is a smidge hokey, once the alternating narratives are established the novel gallops along. Happy Reading!!
