by Lily Tuck
First published 2005
Paris, 1854. Francisco Solano López courts Irish courtesan Ella Lynch with gifts from his distant homeland: a poncho, musicians, and a horse called Mathilde. When this future Paraguayan dictator returns to Asunción, Ella abandons her European life to follow him across the Atlantic. In Paraguay's capital, she becomes Franco's mistress and unofficial empress, wielding influence in a world that views her as a foreign intruder. Cut off from everything familiar, Ella throws herself into Franco's grandiose vision of empire. His reckless ambition and boundless pride will drag Paraguay into a catastrophic war that consumes the nation. Ella watches as the dream she helped nurture destroys the country she now calls home. Through her eyes, we witness how personal desires collide with political folly, and how love can become complicit in devastation.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, political-intrigue
Setting: Paraguay, Asunción, Atlantic, Europe
Period: 1854
248 pages · Paperback · HarperPerennial
Content warnings: colonialism, war