Kate O'Brien

Spain in the years before the Armada, and high passion meets high politics. Ana, Princess of Eboli, heiress of Spain's leading family, widow of Philip II's wisest counsellor and rumoured to be the King's mistress, falls unexpectedly in love with Don Antonio Perez, dandy, adulterer, skilled politician. With her unusual looks, her aristocratic arrogance and the simplicities of her faith, Ana cannot understand why her private life should become entangled with the affairs of state and, finally, incur the terrible vindictiveness of the King himself...Kate O'Brien's understanding and love of Spain enhance the beauty of this passionate and intelligent novel.

A Novel

That Lady

Jim Hagan

This novel is a series of set pieces interspersed with narrative exposition, which gives it to my mind an interesting and experimental feeling rhythm, like a mix of play and essay.

During the corona isolation of 2020 I have somewhat inadvertently begun a a journey of Spanish & Latin American themed literature, with this in the middle. Following on from El Cid, it was interesting to read this narrative set to the backdrop of themes of Castilian aristocracy and the consolidation of the idea of Spain. Next I will be moving on to Love in the Time of Cholera and then, hopefully, Don Quixote for the first time.

That Lady A Novel

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