Tessa Bridal – författare

Casada a los quince años, «por soledad y lujuria» —en sus propias palabras—, Isabel Keating mata accidentalmente a su violento esposo seis años más tarde, y se ve forzada a fugarse de la Irlanda del siglo XVIII disfrazada de hombre.  A bordo del Buenaventura, un galeón en ruta a América, descubre ya en altamar que a causa de su ignorancia de la geografía y la codicia del capitán, el destino de la nave no es Boston como Isabel creía, sino las colonias españolas al sur del continente.

El propietario de la nave, Garzón Moreau, también a bordo, le hace saber de los peligros y las posibles recompensas de continuar su viaje al sur hacia la pequeña ciudad costera de Montevideo, e Isabel decide invertir sus escasos ahorros en los negocios de exportación de Garzón.  Al igual que Isabel, Garzón es un marginado, pero posee riquezas materiales gracias a su habilidad de evadir las leyes de importación y exportación de la Corona española, y por ser un diestro contrabandista.  Ambos tienen poderosas razones para resistir la tentación de una relación personal más profunda.  Garzón es medio indígena y sabe que la Iglesia prohíbe los matrimonios mixtos.  Isabel es una fugitiva con un angustiante secreto.

Garzón e Isabel unen fuerzas con un sacerdote poco convencional cuya determinación por salvar a los indígenas de la esclavitud lo impulsa a dejar atrás la seguridad de su misión cerca de Montevideo, para establecer un nuevo enclave tierra adentro, en un territorio controlado por Garzón.  Esta asociación los libera del escrutinio de la Corona y de la Iglesia, y a la vez los fuerza, tanto a ellos como a los indígenas que los acompañan en esta aventura, a tomar decisiones que afectarán no solo sus propias vidas, sino también el futuro de la propia colonia española.

Married at fifteen, “in loneliness and lust” as she herself puts it, Isabel Keating accidentally kills her abusive husband six years later and is forced to flee 18th century Ireland disguised as a man.  She boards the Bonaventure, a ship bound for America, only to discover, once she is on the high seas, that thanks to her ignorance of geography and the captain’s greed, she is not on her way north to Boston, as she had intended, but south to the Spanish colonies. 

From the ship’s owner, Garzón Moreau, who is also on board, she learns of the perils and rewards of continuing south to the small coastal city of Montevideo and uses her small stock of money to invest in Garzon’s export ventures.  Like Isabel, he too is something of an outcast, albeit a wealthy one thanks to his ability to evade the Spanish Crown’s import and export regulations, and to his skills as a smuggler. They both have strong reasons to resist a relationship that goes any deeper. Garzon is half Indian and well aware that the Catholic Church forbids mixed marriages. And Isabel is a fugitive with a troubling secret. 

They join forces with an unconventional priest whose determination to save the native people from slavery impels him to leave the safety of his mission near Montevideo to establish a new one inland, on territory controlled by Garzón. Their partnership provides them with freedom from close scrutiny from the Crown and the Church, while forcing them and the Indians who join them on their new venture to make choices that will affect not only their own lives, but the future of the Spanish colony itself.

The Dark Side of Memory examines the largely unknown history of the state sponsored kidnapping of children in Uruguay and Argentina during the Cold War. The author interviewed parents, family members, and the children (now adults) for first person accounts detailing the circumstances of the kidnappings and the illegal adoption of newborns from the torture centers where they were born. Mothers and grandmothers, often involved in decades-long searches for their missing children and grandchildren, shared their determined and courageous confrontations with the kidnappers and with the governments and military forces that protected them.