Why a Booktrail?
1861: A ruined silver-mine owner sets sail from Mexico City to seek his fortune in the New World.
A Vineyard in Andalusia
What you need to know before your trail
A ruined silver-mine owner sets sail from Mexico City to seek his fortune in the New World.
Mauro Larrera has just four months to pay his creditors, or his bankruptcy will be revealed and his family’s honour will be in tatters. In magnificent Havana — home to beautiful women and dangerous men who deal in mysterious trades – he gambles what little he has left on what will become the greatest adventure of his life.
A Vineyard in Andalusia is a novel of glories and defeats; of silver mines, family secrets, vineyards, cellars, and splendid cities of faded grandeur; of unexpected passion, and love in the strangest of circumstances.
Locations
Reset- Mexico - Mexico City
- A: Alameda Central Park
- B: Calle de las Damas
- C: Palacio de Mineria
- Spain - Jerez
- F: Jerez Cathedral
- G: Jerez de la Frontera wineyard
Travel Guide
Travel BookTrail style from Mexico City to Havana to Jerez
We travel quite a lot in this novel: from Mexico City to Havana to Jerez. Mauro Larrea, the main character, faces losing his fortune which he has made in Mexican silver mines. Therefore he decides to head out to the New World and travels to Havana and Jerez. This journey is a gamble in more ways than one.
The settings are as diverse as they are interesting – plenty of facts here about food, weather, culture and especially the wine trade! We see the lives of the people who live in the various places – the divide between rich and poor in Cuba is especially revealing.
The novel explores how the old colonial world is gradually starting to fade, thus making way for new and more modern ideas. Lots of interesting facts about time and place such as the fact that wine made up 20% of Spain’s total exports at the time!
This is the time of the American Civil War and its presence is felt in every part of society and in every location of the novel – war obviously impacted on trade in Mexico and Cuba (eg sugar plantations). Slavery and war don’t just end when the treaties are signed…
BookTrail Boarding Pass: A Vineyard in Andalusia
Destination/location: Cuba, Jerez, Mexico City Author/guide: María Dueñas Departure Time: 1860s
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