Book Review: A Decent Woman, by Eleanor Parker Sapia
Title: A Decent Woman
Author: Eleanor Parker Sapia
Publisher: Booktrope
Genre: Historical
Author: Eleanor Parker Sapia
Publisher: Booktrope
Genre: Historical
Purchase on Amazon
A Decent Woman is a rich, elegantly written debut
novel about two different women struggling to survive in the chauvinistic, male-dominated
society of early 1900’s Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Ana
Belen, a midwife born to African slaves in Cuba, harbors a secret, violent
past. Serafina, a beautiful young wife who soon becomes a widow and marries a
rich merchant, eventually must, like Ana, keep a vicious incident secret in
order to protect herself against the wrath of a prejudiced society. These two
women, different in race and class yet bonded by fate, become the best of
friends in two diverse worlds.
Talented
author Eleanor Parker Sapia draws us into their lives, their loves and their
struggles as they try to survive in a seemingly unforgiving culture where there’s
no real freedom for women, no matter where they come from or what their status
is.
In
this thought-provoking novel, Sapia delves into social criticism and explores
women’s issues—all the while balancing her storytelling skills to create an
unforgettable tale that sparkles with beautiful prose, rich descriptions, and
deep characterization, thus creating two female portraits that will stay with
the reader for a long time.
Besides
the obvious social themes on the dynamics between men and women, Sapia explores
the way superstition played a part in the culture of Puerto Rico during that
time. The author has clearly done her research in terms of African Yoruba
traditions and the way they later mixed with Catholicism. Women friendship as
savior is another important theme. In a world where males are viewed as evil,
corrupted figures, no matter if they’re doctors, judges, or possess other
positions of power, solidarity between women is the one thing that can liberate
and even rescue them, if only on an emotional and spiritual level.
A Decent Woman is a beautiful work of fiction, and
one that I whole-heartedly recommend to readers of historical novels.
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