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The Lives of Eliza Lynch: Scandal and Courage
Eliza Lynch was a courageous woman who was adored by the ordinary women of Paraguay and who tried to help many victims of an appalling war. Her notorious reputation was invented by Paraguay's enemies in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, and by Paraguay's tiny Spanish elite who hated her glamour and sophistication. ""I represent Scandal,"" she ruefully admitted. The authors have discovered the truth about Eliza's Irish origins and the cruel deception of her marriage at the age of sixteen to a duplicitous French Army officer. They reconstruct the systematic invention of her image as a prostitute around her first meeting with Solano Lopez in Paris in 1854. The paranoid Lopez, on discovering that his family and colleagues had been conspiring against him, trusted only Eliza and their relationship became a love story of the damned. The book reveals why the Emperor of Brazil, against the advice of his generals, pursued Lopez to his death in 1870; Eliza buried him and their eldest son in the jungle with her bare hands. Eliza defied her enemies in a pamphlet she published in 1875 here translated for the first time when she returned to face her enemies in Paraguay. The authors' exclusive access to the unpublished journals of Eliza's daughter-in-law shows how scurrilous writers in South America, Britain and the US finally broke her spirit and how she died a ""burnt-out case"" in Paris in 1886. In 1961 a later dictator, General Stroessner, declared her the national heroine of Paraguay.
298 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2005
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March 16, 2026
I had decided to read this book since St. Patrick's Day is coming up and it intersected with my interest in Latin America.
Eliza Lynch has long been unfairly maligned by history as a sort of evil conjurer who hypnotized Fransisco Solano Lopez, but this book sets these silly myths to rest through extensive documentation and honest scholarship.
I should also point out that Michael Lillis and Ronan Fanning made a documentary about Eliza Lynch released in 2013, which is also worth watching.
Additionally, Michael Lillis and Ronan Fanning are the co-authors of another book entitled The Lives of Eliza Lynch Scandal and Courage, which was released by the same publisher in the same year as this work. I was unable to verify if they're the same book, but I would assume they are.
Eliza Lynch was a beautiful woman born in Ireland in 1833, as this book establishes, and her claims of being born to respectable family are vindicated by the authors' in their meticulous research proving that Eliza Lynch was indeed related to a number of Royal Navy officers as she said.
It has long been alleged that Eliza was a courtesan of the demimonde in the France of Napoleon III. This was the grand era of beautiful socialites using their charms to make their mark and associate with powerful and wealthy figures.
We get a glimpse into this world, into the lives of women like Cora Pearl an La Paiva. This is a whole fascinating world in itself, but once which Eliza Lynch was only tangentially involved with.
We learn that Eliza's marriage with the French soldier Quatrefages was a sham, that she was cruelly deceived, but the authors make some assertions about Eliza's refusal to trust men that seem more like speculation to me. She seemed to have trusted Solano Lopez.
Next Eliza meets the Paraguayan heir-apparent, and by all accounts they fall truly and completely in love. Lopez brings her to Paraguay and relies on her until the end. They have seven children together.
It is inevitable that we should have to discuss Solano Lopez. In his book Bolivar, Madariaga notes that the Liberator was in Europe and witnessed the coronation of Napoleon. The takeaway, Madariaga argues, is that Bolivar became overtly Napoleonic in his imagery and ambitions.
We could say that this created a precedent and the caudillos of Latin America were all just mini-Napoleons, but Solano Lopez fits the archetype more closely than most, I think.
Having come into immense wealth through the nepotism and corruption of his father Carlos Antonio Lopez, Solano Lopez built up a riverine fleet, constructed the fortress at Humaita, and expanded the Paraguayan Army to one-hundred thousand well-equipped soldiers.
Paraguay had become the most militaristic and efficient country in the River Plate Basin, and for reasons inadequately explained (probably he just thirsted for military glory like Napoleon), he provoked a war with Brazil, which then spread to include Argentina and Uruguay.
The authors make a strong case that initially Solano Lopez had an advantage in seizing Mato Grosso, which Brazil could only reach with difficulty though the Plate River System, but for reasons again that are difficult to understand, Solano Lopez decided to expand the war by marching his army to Uruguay.
To accomplish this he needed to traverse Argentinian territory, which brought in Argentina against him and now he had two enormous opponents that dwarfed his own country and resources, and he was very awkwardly on the offensive in their territory.
Solano Lopez proved to be no Napoleon, as his forces were badly defeated both inside and outside of Paraguay. His own competent general was killed in an accident, and almost every engagement ended in catastrophic Paraguayan defeat.
The authors speculate on the motives of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil to continue the war after Lopez had clearly been decisively defeated, and mention something about Lopez's pretensions to marry Pedro's daughter. It's possible, but as with so much else around this conflict, it is hard to comprehend.
One part of the book suggests that Lopez and Eliza visited the Crimea during the Crimean War, which would be an interesting foreshadowing given how Humaita was called the Gibraltar or the Sevastopol of South America. It was folly to place such faith in Humaita, as it fell just the same as Sevastopol did, and just the same as Singapore, and Port Arthur, and all of the other 'impregnable' fortresses wryly lampooned by Russell Grenfell in another work.
Since the book's focus is Eliza Lynch, the authors admit that they cover the war only imperfectly, and are concerned mostly with her role in it. They establish pretty solidly that she had no role in provoking it or influence on how it was conducted, her role was limited to helping the people and soldiers of Paraguay insofar as she was able. In this we could draw some illuminating parallels with Rasputin.
Paraguay's agony is almost impossible to imagine. Scholars estimate that an enormous percentage of Paraguay's population perished during the war, which remains the largest and bloodiest in South American history. Paraguay was effectively hobbled as a power of any significance.
Eliza personally witnessed the death of her partner and her eldest son, and we might gloomily add here that four of Eliza's seven children died before reaching maturity.
Now the problem I had with this book emerges as this junction. After the horrors of the war the rest of the book is taken up primarily with Eliza's legal battles to recover 'her' property, with a final about fifty pages being taken up by Eliza's own self-defense which has been published here for the first time in English.
I like that the latter was included, but it is very tedious. It is again mostly involved around Eliza's struggle to claim ownership of various extensive properties.
I get the feeling that the authors are strongly in sympathy with Eliza in this matter. They seem to think that Eliza had uncontested claim to what, by their own descriptions, are properties of truly ridiculous proportions. Literally thousands of square kilometers.
Needless to say, I am much less convinced and much less impressed. As a woman who endured hardship and who proved strong and resilient in the face of adversity I think Eliza Lynch deserves to be commended, and as a woman who has been viciously slandered by history I think she deserves to be rehabilitated, as the Stroessner regime attempted to do.
But Eliza's claims to this enormous wealth and vast tracts of land are founded upon the grants of Lopez, and the will of Lopez. Lopez himself hardly deserved any of the wealth he possessed. His father had basically coopted the state for his own enrichment, setting up government monopolies, and even taking whatever he wanted even if it was already owned by someone else.
This must have greatly impoverished everyone in Paraguay except the Lopez family, and by extension Eliza Lynch. Even with 'legal' title, there can be no interpretation other than that Lopez and Eliza used the state to enrich themselves and this can be neither legally nor morally justified.
To imagine that Eliza should just have been allowed to live in fabulous wealth and luxury, in Europe no less, on the produce and land of Paraguay, which had just been devastated by the most ruinous war in its history and one of the most ruinous wars in all history, is absurd. Unsurprisingly Eliza was able to redeem none of this property and in my opinion that was the correct approach.
In all honestly I could not accept Eliza's claims to Lopez's legacy. And while I sometimes raised my eyebrows as the speculations of the authors, I found this book an entertaining and informative read. It is well-balanced, though perhaps a little bit partisan for Eliza.
Eliza Lynch is, however, a lively and engaging historical figure in her own right. No doubt the sheer controversy around her is bound to be fun and exciting. You certainly won't regret reading this.
Eliza Lynch has long been unfairly maligned by history as a sort of evil conjurer who hypnotized Fransisco Solano Lopez, but this book sets these silly myths to rest through extensive documentation and honest scholarship.
I should also point out that Michael Lillis and Ronan Fanning made a documentary about Eliza Lynch released in 2013, which is also worth watching.
Additionally, Michael Lillis and Ronan Fanning are the co-authors of another book entitled The Lives of Eliza Lynch Scandal and Courage, which was released by the same publisher in the same year as this work. I was unable to verify if they're the same book, but I would assume they are.
Eliza Lynch was a beautiful woman born in Ireland in 1833, as this book establishes, and her claims of being born to respectable family are vindicated by the authors' in their meticulous research proving that Eliza Lynch was indeed related to a number of Royal Navy officers as she said.
It has long been alleged that Eliza was a courtesan of the demimonde in the France of Napoleon III. This was the grand era of beautiful socialites using their charms to make their mark and associate with powerful and wealthy figures.
We get a glimpse into this world, into the lives of women like Cora Pearl an La Paiva. This is a whole fascinating world in itself, but once which Eliza Lynch was only tangentially involved with.
We learn that Eliza's marriage with the French soldier Quatrefages was a sham, that she was cruelly deceived, but the authors make some assertions about Eliza's refusal to trust men that seem more like speculation to me. She seemed to have trusted Solano Lopez.
Next Eliza meets the Paraguayan heir-apparent, and by all accounts they fall truly and completely in love. Lopez brings her to Paraguay and relies on her until the end. They have seven children together.
It is inevitable that we should have to discuss Solano Lopez. In his book Bolivar, Madariaga notes that the Liberator was in Europe and witnessed the coronation of Napoleon. The takeaway, Madariaga argues, is that Bolivar became overtly Napoleonic in his imagery and ambitions.
We could say that this created a precedent and the caudillos of Latin America were all just mini-Napoleons, but Solano Lopez fits the archetype more closely than most, I think.
Having come into immense wealth through the nepotism and corruption of his father Carlos Antonio Lopez, Solano Lopez built up a riverine fleet, constructed the fortress at Humaita, and expanded the Paraguayan Army to one-hundred thousand well-equipped soldiers.
Paraguay had become the most militaristic and efficient country in the River Plate Basin, and for reasons inadequately explained (probably he just thirsted for military glory like Napoleon), he provoked a war with Brazil, which then spread to include Argentina and Uruguay.
The authors make a strong case that initially Solano Lopez had an advantage in seizing Mato Grosso, which Brazil could only reach with difficulty though the Plate River System, but for reasons again that are difficult to understand, Solano Lopez decided to expand the war by marching his army to Uruguay.
To accomplish this he needed to traverse Argentinian territory, which brought in Argentina against him and now he had two enormous opponents that dwarfed his own country and resources, and he was very awkwardly on the offensive in their territory.
Solano Lopez proved to be no Napoleon, as his forces were badly defeated both inside and outside of Paraguay. His own competent general was killed in an accident, and almost every engagement ended in catastrophic Paraguayan defeat.
The authors speculate on the motives of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil to continue the war after Lopez had clearly been decisively defeated, and mention something about Lopez's pretensions to marry Pedro's daughter. It's possible, but as with so much else around this conflict, it is hard to comprehend.
One part of the book suggests that Lopez and Eliza visited the Crimea during the Crimean War, which would be an interesting foreshadowing given how Humaita was called the Gibraltar or the Sevastopol of South America. It was folly to place such faith in Humaita, as it fell just the same as Sevastopol did, and just the same as Singapore, and Port Arthur, and all of the other 'impregnable' fortresses wryly lampooned by Russell Grenfell in another work.
Since the book's focus is Eliza Lynch, the authors admit that they cover the war only imperfectly, and are concerned mostly with her role in it. They establish pretty solidly that she had no role in provoking it or influence on how it was conducted, her role was limited to helping the people and soldiers of Paraguay insofar as she was able. In this we could draw some illuminating parallels with Rasputin.
Paraguay's agony is almost impossible to imagine. Scholars estimate that an enormous percentage of Paraguay's population perished during the war, which remains the largest and bloodiest in South American history. Paraguay was effectively hobbled as a power of any significance.
Eliza personally witnessed the death of her partner and her eldest son, and we might gloomily add here that four of Eliza's seven children died before reaching maturity.
Now the problem I had with this book emerges as this junction. After the horrors of the war the rest of the book is taken up primarily with Eliza's legal battles to recover 'her' property, with a final about fifty pages being taken up by Eliza's own self-defense which has been published here for the first time in English.
I like that the latter was included, but it is very tedious. It is again mostly involved around Eliza's struggle to claim ownership of various extensive properties.
I get the feeling that the authors are strongly in sympathy with Eliza in this matter. They seem to think that Eliza had uncontested claim to what, by their own descriptions, are properties of truly ridiculous proportions. Literally thousands of square kilometers.
Needless to say, I am much less convinced and much less impressed. As a woman who endured hardship and who proved strong and resilient in the face of adversity I think Eliza Lynch deserves to be commended, and as a woman who has been viciously slandered by history I think she deserves to be rehabilitated, as the Stroessner regime attempted to do.
But Eliza's claims to this enormous wealth and vast tracts of land are founded upon the grants of Lopez, and the will of Lopez. Lopez himself hardly deserved any of the wealth he possessed. His father had basically coopted the state for his own enrichment, setting up government monopolies, and even taking whatever he wanted even if it was already owned by someone else.
This must have greatly impoverished everyone in Paraguay except the Lopez family, and by extension Eliza Lynch. Even with 'legal' title, there can be no interpretation other than that Lopez and Eliza used the state to enrich themselves and this can be neither legally nor morally justified.
To imagine that Eliza should just have been allowed to live in fabulous wealth and luxury, in Europe no less, on the produce and land of Paraguay, which had just been devastated by the most ruinous war in its history and one of the most ruinous wars in all history, is absurd. Unsurprisingly Eliza was able to redeem none of this property and in my opinion that was the correct approach.
In all honestly I could not accept Eliza's claims to Lopez's legacy. And while I sometimes raised my eyebrows as the speculations of the authors, I found this book an entertaining and informative read. It is well-balanced, though perhaps a little bit partisan for Eliza.
Eliza Lynch is, however, a lively and engaging historical figure in her own right. No doubt the sheer controversy around her is bound to be fun and exciting. You certainly won't regret reading this.
November 15, 2023
Es admirable lo que estos irlandeses han hecho de escribir una biografía tan documentada sobre una de las personas más icónicas de la historia del Paraguay. Es notorio cuán serio es el trabajo que han hecho.
Un detalle adicional -y que en parte nubla su juicio- es que ambos están enamorados de la mujer a quien estudiaron y se ven incapacitados de un análisis crítico
Un detalle adicional -y que en parte nubla su juicio- es que ambos están enamorados de la mujer a quien estudiaron y se ven incapacitados de un análisis crítico
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews