This is a story immerse in the Mexico of the 1930s and 40s. It has very interesting political undertones as Catalina (the protagonist) marries Andres Ascencio, who is something of a politician but whose main role is that of the man behind the curtain pulling at the puppets' strings.
Catalina marries young, too young she tells us as the novel goes on. She thinks she's in love, but only because she doesn't know what love is, at least not yet. Andres isn't in love with his new bride either, but she's young, beautiful and from a good family, which is all a budding figure in the political arena may want -or need- in a wife.
Catalina is the one narrating the story, and as the novel goes, we see the world changing both because things always change but also because she's growing, losing her innocence, learning the that life is never what our parents tell us it will be. Soon, she's no longer a teen but a woman with her own opinions and desires. And her husband is now an important figure, and rich too. And there is this man, the director of the National Symphonic Orchestra, who understands who she is and who wants to hear what she has to say. And she falls in love with him the night the orchestra plays the songs her father used to whistle when working at home.
But the musician is also a lefty, and while Andres cares little about his wife's emotions, he wouldn't let an artist start a revolution.
I think Mastretta manages to tell a compelling love/life story while presenting a very well researched and clear picture of the political life at the time. Catalina is the perfect witness, because she's insightful, and loving, and merciless in equal parts. She's a great character, as there are many others in this novel. Her own children, the children Andres had with other women and that Catalina has to raise. Catalina, as it turns out to be, is literally Andres shadow, seeing what he does and learning from his ways, preparing for what's coming.
As historical novels go, this one is really good.