What They Said About Luisa is an illuminating novel of historical fiction set in Seville, Spain during the 16th century and the Spanish Inquisition. This refreshing story begins with Luisa Albrego a slave who is emancipated and inherits some money after the death of her master. Even with a bit of money, Luisa, who is pregnant, has limited options and takes local service work to survive. Her work allows her to take care of her infant son within the home of an elderly couple she provides care for. She meets and decides to marry a white man who convinces her to sail with him to Mexico where they will mine for silver on a plot of land they arrange to buy. Luisa knows it is too risky to bring her young son on the sea crossing so she puts him into the care of a local church until the time she can send for him.
From Spain, across the sea to Mexico, and into her new life and beyond we learn of the trials she faces. We learn of an encounter with indigenous people that changes her life and sets her on an emotional odyssey. The author paints a vivid landscape of life in Zacatecas Mexico during the 1500's and the impact of prejudice, religion, and race on those who attempt to make a new life there.
The most gratifying aspect of this novel is that the reader learns of Luisa's story not in her voice, but from those she interacts with during her life journey. Their unique perspectives are voiced to the reader within the parameters of each of their own personalities, ambitions, biases, and beliefs.
Brilliantly told from multiple perspectives. This story left me searching for more information. I found I wanted more information about the Spanish Inquisition, slavery in Spain, silver mining in Mexico, and general life during the 1500's.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and fresh voices. I'm absolutely gobsmacked.

Prior to this novel, I was not familiar with Luisa’s story…. Luisa was a slave who was later “freed” upon her master’s death. She planned to make a life of her own and she does, but not without struggle. Very strict religious laws governed the legality and morality of marriages, and life in general. At one point Luisa was in court for bigamy.

I found that the style and structure of this story was very interesting, although the book is ultimately about Luisa, we don’t hear from Luisa at all. We hear from various characters who had an interaction with her at some point and learn little bits about Luisa from their telling. As the reader you must infer and create your own conclusion of the type of person Luisa was based on the observations of others. The characters were beautifully developed and the writing superb. Since the characters were so developed their back stories were heavily detailed, I found myself questioning at times how it is relevant to Luisa’s story – but slowly, it does come together. I felt that the story ended quite abruptly and left me wanting a little more.

In summary, this was a beautifully written novel, slow and steady – and leaves you with the gift of afterthought, deciphering the story and the possibilities well after you have completed it.

A great novel! I loved the story, and I found the plot really clever. One does not know much at all about Luisa's real life. That was reflected in the style of the novel: the reader does not learn anything from her own voice, but from the characters Luisa had met in her life. Each chapter is written in the first person form and narrated by people who have been close to Luisa some time in her life. That was very interesting, and if you thought you knew everything about her after the first chapter, you got it all wrong! Each character paints his or her own portrait of Luisa, and through them her life is revealed to us, readers. In the end, one has to make his/her own idea of this charismatic woman. Highly recommended.
I received a complimentary digital ARC of this novel from NetGalley and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.

I was enchanted with every page of this book. Rummel does Luisa Abrego justice, and I appreciated her storytelling technique: Luisa's character and life story is shaped only by those around her, thus speaking to the intricacies historians face when picking apart historical documents. Rarely were the words, thoughts, and lives of women--especially women of color like Luisa--documented from their own perspectives. In this way, Rummel pays homage to "reading between the lines" of a white, male, Christian, and Eurocentric history. But not every chapter is told from the perspective of a white man. There are female voices, too, such as those of Luisa's master and that of the Mother Superior of the Order of Saint Clare. Each of these two perspectives sheds light on the precarity of being female--that is, male property--while also offering areas in these women's lives where they exert their own agency. Luisa, too, finds agency, despite being a slave, then a wife, and then a prisoner of the Inquisition. Her ending is a rather hopeful--but certainly not wholly impossible--one.

Overall, Rummel captures the values, mentalities, and backlashes of the historical period through the various microhistories each chapter (told from the perspective of different characters of gender, class, and employment) offers. This book is on par with similar microhistories, such as James A Sweet's "Domingos Alvares" and Sandra Lauderdale Graham's "Caetana Says No. " Truly a well-researched work of art.

Thank you NetGalley and Dundurn Press for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

first off i just wanna say that whoever designed that cover deserves to have a raise of $10,000 monthly because i’d be lying if i said it wasn’t what attracted me to this book at first.

but of course what had me requesting for an arc wasn’t the cover. when i read the blurb and found out it was about a lesser known historical figure (because i really could not find anything about luisa abrego) i was excited and i’m very happy to say that rummel did not disappoint.

what kept me reading, most importantly, was rummel’s writing. i have to say that i was a bit skeptical at first; i know that rummel is very qualified in her field of history, but still, there is barely anything on the internet about luisa abrego—not even a wikipedia page, last time i checked—so i was worried that luisa herself would fall flat especially because we don’t get anything in luisa’s pov but rummel brought the character to life beautifully.

it also felt like i was gossiping with my friends about luisa; i don’t know if this is the intended effect but it was for me and it made for a pretty enjoyable read even though my eye was twitching at some of the racist things the characters say.