The Divine Recluse: A Novel of Colonial Guatemala

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

The Divine Recluse, first published in 1938 and now translated into English for the first time, is a modernist historical novel set in Antigua, Guatemala, in the 1620s. In Soto Hall’s account, Antigua is the quintessential periphery, always mindful of the city and court of Madrid and of other, more established, cities of the empire. Part anti-colonial satire, part historical romance, and part pastiche of 17th-century Spanish novels, The Divine Recluse focuses on the lives of the inhabitants of a colonial town, Soto Hall’s novel is based on the mysterious history of a nun who has fascinated several writers who see the world as a game of Spanish shadows projected on a canvas brought from Mexico City or Lima. Since very little was really known about her, the author concentrated on imagining the world around her, sprinkling the tale with enigmatic and nefarious characters, bringing to light the many conflicts between Church and state in Antigua at the time. The known fragments of Sor Juana’s life served as a catalyst to expose corruption and in-fighting in the various religious orders of the Church in Guatemala and to provide entertaining background material for a colourful historical novel set in Antigua.