LatinosUSA

Hi, all:

I bring you a book by an author who has become a favourite of mine, and I have been following her work since I met her through Rosie’s Book Review Team. Another winner!

An Unhappy Country. A Novel of Old New Mexico by Loretta Miles Tollefson

August 1846. The U.S. army has taken Santa Fe without firing a shot. The Mexican American War is over in New Mexico. Or is it?

Two days after the Army arrives, seventeen-year-old Jessie Milbank and her friends stumble on a man with a knife in his back in the Santa Fe plaza. Then someone close to Jessie’s friend Juanita is murdered. When an insurrection is suppressed in December, Jessie begins to wonder if the three events are linked.

Were the murdered men part of a conspiracy to throw out the invaders? And were they the only ones hoping for a fight? After revolt does finally break out and the Americans suppress it at the battle of Taos Pueblo, yet another man is murdered. Will the reasons for his death provide clues to the earlier ones?

A richly imagined story steeped in New Mexico and American history.

About the author:

The history of the American West is in Loretta’s blood. Her grandfather was born in Oklahoma Territory and spent his childhood moving west. His family ended up on a farm in the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula. Later, he cleared the forested land that would become the farm where Loretta was raised. After he died, she inherited a collection of first-hand accounts of the 19th century Pacific Northwest.

When Loretta moved to New Mexico as an adult, those reminiscences and her love of history went with her. In the Southwest, her interest expanded to include the many small towns, pueblos, and land grants she encountered during her 20-plus years as a public servant. Wherever she went in New Mexico, she was exposed to its tri-cultural (Native, Hispanic, and Anglo) experience and saw how much its past influenced the present.

After she retired, Loretta began to explore New Mexico’s history more deeply, honing the research skills she’d developed while obtaining two Masters of Arts degrees. The result is her Old New Mexico fiction—deeply researched, firmly and accurately set in the past, and brimming with historical characters. She posts short pieces about what she discovers at LorettaMilesTollefson.com, as well as some short fiction, book reviews, and announcements about her books.

My review:

I’ve read and reviewed several novels by Loretta Miles Tollefson, and I’ve always enjoyed the way she can bring to life historical events while making us understand what it must have been to experience them at the time. Her ability to incorporate her research into the story combines well with her skill in filling the gaps and creating characters we can empathise and identify with. She reminds me of a careful restorer, who manages to keep the original material, make sure it survives and can be enjoyed by people for many more years, and preserve its historical importance. The restorer might need to add new materials to make the piece more resistant and strong, but they never pretend that material is part of the original.

The author of this book, who has written and researched the history of New Mexico (Old New Mexico, as the subtitle of many of her novels reminds us) always includes information about her process in the author’s note —with details about the facts and the parts that are fictionalised to make the narrative cohesive—, historical information about the real characters, a vocabulary with the Spanish terms used in the novel (most are translated in the text), and also a bibliography/list of resources for those who might want to explore the story further.

This historical novel refers to some events the author has explored in previous books (and I recommend readers to go back and check them in full), but it is not necessary to have read them all to follow or understand the action in this one. Those of us who have been following her series of books about Old New Mexico will come across some familiar characters (and that is always a plus), but the central character in this story, Jessie Milbank, is a young girl, 17 y.o., and therefore she is in a perfect position to guide us through the events without being encumbered by preconceived opinions of what had happened before. Jessie is a fascinating character in her own right. Her father is a shop owner in Santa Fe; they are both Americans but have lived in New Mexico (then under Mexico’s rule) for many years when the action starts, and she is good friends with Juanita, Guadalupe, and other local girls. She speaks Spanish and feels at home in the town, loves the landscape, and has taken up their way of dressing and their customs. Not all is happy in her life, though, as she lost her mother when she was very young, and what is worse, she witnessed her murder in very traumatic circumstances. It is evident that she suffers from what we now call PTSD, and the events in the novel put her under a lot of strain, bringing back some terrible memories and some of the survivor’s guilt she still experiences.

The story starts in August 1846, when the Americans take Santa Fe with little opposition, and the lives of all the inhabitants are changed forever. The American soldiers are a welcome novelty, especially for the young girls, but not everybody is happy, and some of the inhabitants decide to do something about it. To complicate matters, several men appear dead in Santa Fe, and because they are Mexicans or Indians, nothing much seems to be done by the new American authorities to find out what happened. Jessica, who takes after her mother, a woman who always tried to help the needy and right any wrongs and injustices she witnessed, starts asking questions and tries to investigate what has happened.

The mystery of the deaths is complicated by the interaction between the newcomers and the regular population, with suspicions and prejudice on both sides (but those who are in charge always have the last word), and some of the clues are confusing or ignored by the authorities.

Juanita and Dolores suffer horrific losses as the story develops, and there is plenty of heartache and grief for all involved.

The novel asks questions and explores important issues: what is the value of honour and glory, and how far will people go to achieve them? What is loyalty, and whom do we owe allegiance to? How should the conquerors behave, and what is considered resistance or treason? Should everything be allowed in a war? Can we adopt a new identity, and will it be accepted, or will we always be tied to the one we were born with?

Jessica is the perfect protagonist, because she knows both worlds and has experienced enough of them to be able to see things from both points of view, living in a liminal place, being horrified at slavery and prejudice, while also feeling close to the American newcomers, whose behaviour and opinions make her question her feelings. As she witnesses some of the most important events following the arrival of the American troops in New Mexico, we have a first-row seat and can make our minds up as to what this stormy historical period was like.

I won’t reveal the solution to the mystery or talk in more detail about what happens in the story. It is fascinating and not part of history that comes up as often as other periods and settings. And the author is an expert in it. I’ve already mentioned most of the extra materials the author includes, and there is also a map that helps us understand better the last part of the book.

Anyone who loves historical fiction and is keen on learning about lesser-known episodes in American history, particularly about New Mexico, should read this novel.

I thank the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book, which I freely chose to review.

Thanks to the author for her book, and thanks to all of you for accompanying me, visiting, liking, sharing, commenting… Be safe, take care, and always keep reading and smiling!