The Barefoot Queen

by Ildefonso Falcones

Friendship, betrayal, revenge, and the dawn of Flamenco...1748, Seville: Caridad, a former Cuban slave, wanders the streets of the city. Forced to leave behind her young son, she has just arrived by boat to forge a new life for herself in Spain. When she meets Milagros Carmona, a young, rebellious gypsy, the two women instantly become friends. Milagros, like the rest of her people, is standing up to the vicious persecution of gypsies. When Milagros introduces Caridad to her exotic life on the edge of society, her life is changed forever. From the bustle of 18th-century Seville to the theatres of Madrid, The Barefoot Queen is a riproaring tale of friendship, betrayal and identity. Drawing us into the world of tobacco smuggling, music, dance, and gypsies, it tells the magnificent story of the birth of Flamenco.

• ISBN13: 9780857522269
• Publish Date: 14 August 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 6 July 2016
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
• Imprint: Doubleday
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 704
• Language: English

Reviews

[Berls]

This review appeared first at Fantasy is More Fun.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I have to stress that this isn't a DNF because The Barefoot Queen is bad. It's a DNF because I stepped outside my comfort zone and, in this case, I shouldn't have. I found The Barefoot Queen in the "Literature/Fiction (adult)" shelf on NetGalley. A shelf I don't tend to look at and probably really shouldn't, I guess.

Why it didn't work for me:

The Barefoot Queen was so slow. I only made it 15% of the way in, but that was 100 pages! This book is long and I just couldn't connect with any of the characters or the story.

The main character, Caridad, is a freed slave wandering alone in Spain. I loved the concept, but I hated the way Caridad was written. Her thoughts were so empty - it kind of felt like some authors write intelligent animals, or maybe a step up. I think that the author was trying to show how lost and hopeless she felt and it's VERY possible that some things were lost in translation (since this was originally published in Spanish).

The story line that was really interesting and had lots of potential was the gypsies. It's probably the reason I pushed passed the 8% point I was at when I first wanted to call it quits. It was a really great representation of the Catholic authorities dealings with the gypsy people at this time - and introduced some really interesting personalities and potential conflicts.

I'm actually specialize on this time period AND Spanish history and I can say that this was EXTREMELY historically accurate. That may be another reason I wasn't feeling The Barefoot Queen actually and, again, it's no fault of the book. I have read SO MUCH about this time period and I would like a break from it. It just wasn't right for me.

So it didn't work for me and I'm calling it.

Time of death: 15%