The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Book Overview:
In The Hacienda we meet Beatriz a determined young woman who witnessed the murder of her father due to his political affiliations. Consequently, Beatriz and her mother fled in the night to her Tía Fernanda’s home where Beatriz and her mother endured her scorn due to her racist beliefs regarding her father being a mestizo and therefore not of ideal or pure heritage. While there Beatirz is treated like a second-class citizen and critiqued because of her darker complexion and constantly reminded she’s not good enough by her Tía.
Hence, when she meets Don Rodolfo Solórzano and he proposes marriage she jumps at this oppurtunity despite his affiliation with the same political party that executed her father and the mystery surrounding the death of his last wife. All Beatriz sees is a chance to secure a future for her and her mother away from her Tía by leaning on the power and influence that would befall her as the Doña of the hacienda San Isidro.
However, as she moves into the hacienda and begins to settle and prepare it for her mother’s arrival she quickly realizes she faces numerous obstacles. The first is her brusque sister-in-law Juana and housemaid Ana Luisa who immediately tries to challenge her new position as Doña of San Isidro. Second, she feels the presence of a malevolent entity in the hacienda and unearths a shocking discovery while inspecting the hacienda for proposed changes.
This leads her to reach out to the local priest to perform an exorcism which he vehemently denies and chastises her for. Feeling hopeless and alone Beatirz wonders how she’ll manage until Padre Andrés offers to help her for he has a history with San Isidro as well and for his own personal reasons wants to ensure the safety of the hacienda.
As they create a plan to cleanse the hacienda of the evil spirit they’re met with various challenges preventing them from accomplishing this task. As days go by they become closer and a forbidden romance develops as they fall headfirst down a troubling and dangerous path that puts Beatirz’s life at risk.
Book Review:
The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas is such a complex, dynamic, and haunting story with elements of Mexican history following the Mexican War of Independence interwoven into the story. Cañas once again manages to take my breath away with her superb ability to write such a rich and well-executed story. The things that stood out to me and that made this such an enjoyable experience are the beautiful prose, historical elements, complex character development, gothic atmosphere, superb handling of intricate themes, forbidden romance, and well-balanced conclusion.
Cañas’s prose is so beautifully written it’s simply breathtaking. She has a way with words and can describe complex feelings, emotions, and ideas in such a captivating and thought-provoking way eliciting strong emotion from the reader. Additionally, Cañas writing allows you to fully immerse yourself in the setting and creates an atmosphere that’s palpable enfolding you into the story. She also knows how to write scenes that are detailed and descriptive which enhances the story without taking you out of what’s happening.
Per her style, Cañas infuses rich historical elements into her story not just for the sake of adding one more thing but to enrich the story and bolster the themes, and key plot points that drive the story forward. Furthermore, while this work is a completely fictional tale you can tell she heavily researches these historical events from which she draws inspiration which makes the story solid and believable.
Her characters are complex, dynamic, and flawed allowing them to feel more human and relatable. For instance, Beatriz’s obsession with San Isidro is birthed from her living in a classist and racist society that assigns power and value to those with the right name and station in life. This propels her to decide to marry Don Rodolfo to obtain that power for herself which in her eyes was a way to purchase her freedom and future financial security for her and her mother. While her motivations are misguided this raw and real part of her identity makes her endearing and leads the reader to want to support her considering the various circumstances that she’s forced to endure and the societal rules and expectations that bind her to this less-than-ideal arrangement.
Padre Andrés is another multi-layered character with an interesting past that led to the development of his skills, abilities and current station in life and how he’s haunted by being forced to marry these two opposing parts of his identity. His frustration with being forced to toe the line to survive and live his truth. This creates a very tortured and enigmatic individual with a strong character arc that plays a large role in the conclusion.
The gothic atmosphere that was present throughout the story created the perfect eerie and ominous vibes. Cañas descriptions of the hacienda and the foreboding presence of the malevolent entity helped to build and create these vibes. Additionally, the minor characters also assisted in adding to the atmosphere with their behaviors and actions.
One scene that sticks out in my mind and really aids in creating the dizzying, foreboding, and gothic atmosphere was Beatriz’s first night without Don Rodolfo in the hacienda and she dines with Ana Luisa and Juana. They compel her to drink copious amounts of the alcoholic beverage maguey and the more inebriated and comfortable she becomes the more daring she gets at asking personal questions about the previous Doña Solórzano causing a palpable tension in the conversation that leads Juana to abruptly send Beatriz out into the haunted hacienda alone in the dark with just a candle to guide her to her room.
During this chilling walk to her room, she battles with the evil entity her mind clouded by the alcohol and fighting against the supernatural elements attacking her. The way that Cañas built up to this scene with the mysterious and aggressive actions of Juana and Ana Luisa and how Cañas described the haunting actions of the entity created a heavy and real feeling of being haunted and the confusion and doubt one feels as they struggle to believe what’s happening is real.
Then there are the underlying themes of racism, classism, sexism, and the thirst for power and the things one is willing to do to obtain it. Racist attitudes were prevalent in this story due to Beatriz being mestizo and having a mixed heritage during a time when being a criollo a person of pure Spanish descent.
This played a major role in the story as Beatirz being mestizo would normally decrease the likelihood of her marrying well hence why when Don Rodolfo proposed marriage she jumped at the chance. It also played a role in her treatment and perception by others. Despite her being Doña Solórzano there were still comments made about her darker complexion and prejudices in regards to her lineage and background made it easier for her to face discrimination that placed her in grave danger in later parts of this story.
Also, we notice the sexist ideals held during this time where women didn’t have any agency or freedom apart from their husbands and weren’t taken seriously. Living in this period meant that for a woman to survive and achieve financial freedom and stability in her life she had to marry well hence Beatriz’s marriage to Don Rodolfo. Additionally, when Beatriz reaches out for help with the lead priest at the church she’s chastised and accused of being mad. The priest goes so far as to write to her husband to get her in line and address her undesirable behavior.
Then there’s the quest for power that’s present in this tale. Beatriz’s desire for power was largely based on her seeing it as a means of freedom and security due to the sexist and racist ideals present during this time. Her fierce desire to obtain this power was to marry a questionable Don for the sole purpose of obtaining status from his name, access to money and to reside over a well-established hacienda. The tradeoff was entering into a loveless marriage with a man with a mysterious past.
We also see the lengths other characters in this story will go through to obtain power. For example, Padre Andrés received the power associated with being a priest in the Catholic church. This position allowed him to hide his true nature residing among the very people who would see him executed for his supposed crimes. All of the themes Cañas introduced influenced the story and contributed to the plot creating a cohesive, dynamic, and well-structured novel.
Then there’s the forbidden romance that blooms between Beatriz and Padre Andrés. Cañas is so good at writing and creating tension and angst between characters. The slow build-up and growth of chemistry and trust between the two is exquisite. Although you know they are star-crossed lovers you find yourself helplessly rooting for them and their tender love for one another.
Lastly, there’s the epic conclusion. The build-up to the finish is full of revelations, plot twists, and immense character growth. All of this contributes to the emotional and action-packed resolution to the problems introduced into the story. Although the ending is a little open-ended as it pertains to one particular subplot I felt it was appropriate considering the surrounding circumstances and current period.
Listen I can go on about this novel and write pages and pages of why I feel this book was absolute perfection. But, the point is that this book was fantastic and I had a wonderful time with this story. This solidified Isabel Cañas as my new favorite auto-buy author and I’m looking forward to exploring more of her work in the future. I highly recommend this story if you love gothic haunted house tales with a rich atmosphere, intricate history, deeper themes, strong characters, and beautiful writing.
Have you read this book? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and until next time happy reading!
Check out my October TBR 2024: 5 Star Predictions to see if my predictions for my rating for this book are on point.
