The Generals Wife

The General's Wife is an evocative, well-researched story of love, tragedy, and triumph in 19th-century Venezuela. In the 17th century, Spanish Jesuit priests established missions along the Orinoco and its tributaries at the southern border of Venezuela. The deep-forest Indians slipped away from these intruders far back into the trees. Later, Spanish miners combed the valleys for gold. Some of the disappointed men gave up their quest and settled down with Indian girls. Chá, the fruit of such a union, grew up by the river, ignorant of both his heritages. Soon, civil war broke out between the forces of the king of Spain and the Venezuelan patriots led by Simon Bolivar. Chá's Indian mother and his Spanish father died, with the father urging his son to find his uncle in Caracas. Ana, the child wife of the patriot general and governor of the island of Margarita, is taken hostage in place of her husband. Pregnant, she is thrown into the dungeon of the Palamar fortress. Hearing this, Chá saves her life using herbal remedies passed down to him by his grandmother. Ana is then incarcerated in the infamous dungeons of La Guaira prison, awaiting a ship to Spain to stand trial in the Spanish courts. Her ship is captured by pirates and she is dumped on a deserted island. Eventually, she is brought to Spain to face trial, but friends smuggle her out and she lives in Caracas with her husband. Here, her friendship with Chá grows and they remain close until the end of their lives. This moving and action-packed novel is based on historical facts.