Length: 352 Pages
Genres: Gothic and Historical Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
A special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an ARC of this book!
Trigger Warnings in this book for Murder, Racism, Colorism, and Mentions of Rape
"I was going to die in this house. The knowing swept through me, heavy with grief, cold and oracular as the whispered words of a saint.
San Isidro was my tomb."
The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas is a book I've so been looking forward to, namely because I'm such a huge fan of a Gothic and am loving how they are having a bit of a revival (which is good news for my own book!), but also because I thought it was so refreshing to see this sort of novel set someplace outside of the usual European setting. The result is a haunting blend of religion and magic, priests and witches, and the horrors of colonialism in Mexico.
When Beatriz accepts the hand of the handsome and wealthy Don Rodolfo Solórzano, it is not because she loves him--it is because she has lost everything after her father was executed during the overthrow of the Mexican government, and wants nothing more than to have a place to call home for her and her mother. But the Solórzano family estate, Hacienda San Isidro, is a place full of secrets--and perhaps something even more insidious. For something in San Isidro is angry, something that slams doors, that leaves rats eviscerated, that causes spectral, girlish laughter.
Exhausted and terrified by sleepless nights doing battle with San Isidro, Beatriz feels she has no one else to turn to but the church. There, she finds Andrés, a mestizo priest with strong familial roots within San Isidro, and startingly, powers that seem not of this world. Together, they hope to cleanse San Isidro of its ghosts--both literal and figurative--and to get to the bottom of what happened to the first Doña Solórzano.
This novel is beautifully atmospheric--I especially appreciated the wonderful descriptions of San Isidro and the land around it--spooky and wonderful all at once. The two protagonists of The Hacienda, Beatriz and Andrés, are very interesting and well-fleshed, and the relationship that blooms between them (deliciously slow-burn might I add) is lovely, too. My only qualm with it is that I felt the other characters, particularly that of Rodolfo and his sister, really suffered from a lack of dimension. I think there was a lot that could have expanded upon to add more depth to these characters and even some scenes within the novel. But these are nitpicks that will not hinder the enjoyment of The Hacienda in any way for other readers!
If you are a fan of Gothics like I am, this one is a must-read and a breath of fresh air for the genre while holding onto what makes it so enjoyable: mysteries hidden within dark houses, secretive families, untimely deaths, and of course, a hint of forbidden romance!
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