A Woman Of Seville

by Sallie Muirden

Paula Sánchez is famous in Seville. Now she is sitting for The Penitent Magdalen, along with Father Rastro and the monk Victor Maria, and watched over by the young painter Diego Velázquez. But Seville in 1616 is a dangerous place, and the eyes of the Inquisition are everywhere. In the evenings, Paula escapes the cares of life by skipping from rooftop to rooftop with the mysterious ladder man, who visits the Sevillians’ balconies each evening at dusk. By day, she is encouraged by Father Rastro to be a mother to the Morisco boys, who are ?also seeking liberation. But does the painting hold a secret that can truly free Paula?Sallie Muirden’s powerful, poetic and ?moving novel is a testament to our capacity for wonder, for art and for love.Praise for Sallie Muirden’s WE TOO SHALL BE MOTHERS‘Original, intelligent and playful’ Katherine England, THE ADVERTISER ‘a tour de force in its elegant brevity’ Michael Sharkey, THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

Genres: Historical, Spain, Historical Fiction

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Tara Chevrestt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I waited two months for it and a friend of mine in Australia was kind enough to seek it out and send it my way. Thus, I am disappointed to say it is just too weird for me to enjoy.

Paula Sanchez is a courtesan and model in 1616 Spain. A Bishop keeps her housed in style in exchange for time in her bed. A painter paints her as Magdalene either dead or alive. But it's a "ladder man" that catches Paula's fancy. Ladder Man is afraid to allow his feet to touch the ground. He simply jumps or climbs house to house watering people's plants and living off of handouts. When his ladder breaks, he cries. And apparently there are enough of these ladder loving people in 1600s Spain to form an entire guild that even throws an annual Ladder Man Ball. (Has anybody's eyebrow gone up yet?)

Well, Paula hates her Bishop lover to the point that she starts jumping out of windows and he attempts to catch her with a fish net. (Dudes, if your woman jumps out of a window to avoid bedding down with you, you got serious problems!) She starts following Ladder Man around and fancies becoming Ladder Woman. Meanwhile, by day, she is visiting some boys held captive for some Inquistion reason or another. These boys are Moriscos... I have never heard of them in my life and the book was not very forthcoming about details of who exactly they were. It was assumed that readers already knew of them, I guess. I had to look it up online.

Every few chapters or so, Diego, an artist has his own narrative and goes on and on about a woman in a blue cap who he is madly in love with. I'm stopping there.. I think you can get the gist of it.

[Susan]

DNF

[Jeannie Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

A priest and a prostitute, a painter and his apprentice, a handful of impish boys held in a convent, and a mysterious mute man who climbs from rooftop to rooftop via a ladder so that he never sets foot on solid ground, combine their voices to tell us a tale of seduction and secrecy in 17th century Seville.

A woman of Seville is a peculiar, unconventional tale of love among friends, high adventure, fantastical events, and yet a somber saddened story of the many hearts and souls of Spain during the time of the Moorish Occupation. This fairytale-like novel creatively crafted by Sallie Muirden, whose fine talent for exquisite writing mixed with humor, sexual passion, love found and love lost, and the beauty of life in small Spanish village, will have readers turning pages for a one sitting read. It will make you smile, make you contemplate, and will have you reminiscing and pondering about your own past and upcoming future adventures of the heart. It is certain to have you musing over the true meaning of life.

It's a quirky story, filled with the unexpected. It's characters are a motley crew of misfits and malcontents, visionaries and artisans, lovers and enemies, all surrounded by the atmospheric times of the Spanish Inquisition, the power of Rome, and the magic of love under the stars on a moonlit night.

Bravo Sallie for a sensational story any reader would find hard to forget. This one's a keeper!

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written book. I first thought it would be a straightforward book set in the early 17th century Spain, but the setting is simply the back-drop exploring love and freedom.

Paula, one of the two main characters through whom we view the world in Seville, gives us the most indept musings on love and freedom-the act of falling into balance.

The other character is the Spanish painter Diego Velazquez when a young apprentice. He struggles with his inadvertent responsibility for the capture of a Muslim young boy. Though religiously conformist, this is the era of the inquisition, he does appear to struggle with the persecution of the Muslims in Spain at the time. At the end of the book he imagines the painting he will paint depicting the flight of the Moors, which indeed he did.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novel of Seville set in the time of Velazquez. Paula is a courtesan who is sitting for the Penitent Magdalen, along with various other locals. She begins a relationship with a mysterious ladder man to escape from the pressures of her life in the time of the Inquisition. A poetic novel which conjures up this exotic time and place.

[Yvonne Boag · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Woman of Seville by Sallie Huirden. Set in 1616, this is a novel about love, art and ladders. Paula is a courtesan, model for painters and at night learning the art of the ladder men. 1616 is a paranoid time and the Inquisition is Big Brother. Well written, this is one of those novels you will think of long after you finish. I did find the ending a little disappointing though.