MEMOIRS OF DOÑA MARINA : Cortés's Interpreter

The Conquest of Mexico, narrated with great detail, serves as an adornment to a beautiful story of love and war.

After the Battle of Centla, the conquered gave a group of maidens as a gift to Hernán Cortés. Among them was to be found the one that would be his interpreter and mistress: Doña Marina or La Malinche, a daring, intelligent woman, who played a decisive rôle in the success of the conquest of the Aztec Empire. Hernán Cortés valued and kept this "gift" his entire life.

In this novel, documented with meticulous historical thoroughness, the author describes the sentiments of a young Indian woman dazzled by the personality of a daring, cunning, but sensitive man. This love is superimposed over the cruelty of the battles, intrigues, and treacheries, the weaknesses and the grandeur of the main characters, and forms the main thread of a narrative filled with emotion and tenderness.