Seeking Duende in America

The Awakening of Isabel Silván

By: Patricia Steele

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

When Isabel Silvan emigrated from Spain on the Orteric in 1911 with her family against her wishes, she faced the dangers and foreign culture of a new world. After falling in love with a fellow Spaniard during the voyage, she later endures multiple heartaches, leading her into an arranged marriage. She silently vows to chase the illusive mystery of duende, which she fears she left behind in Fuentesaúco, but her road is complicated.
Seeking Duende in America is about the travails of this Spanish woman later in Vacaville during Prohibition when the Roaring 20’s speakeasies kept alcohol flowing. After losing her husband, the pride of owning her bakery eases the shock, but then the rug is pulled from under her when she learns that widows cannot own businesses without a man.
In a surprising twist, Isabel decides if the law says she needs a man to hold her business together, she will become one. Little did they know, behind the disguise was not a man at all, but a trailblazing woman determined to rewrite the rules in a man’s world. Her secret life was as audacious as it was inspiring, and her story is one of sheer defiance against societal norms. Her life is soon caught between bigotry for a Spanish immigrant and her ambition to become a Spanish American. With the threat of losing her bakery looming, will the picture reshape the game when she unexpectedly reconnects with her first love?

Wonderful story of a young woman’s passage to America

Interesting, historical fun read. Loved the characters, it made me feel like I was there. Courageous Spanish woman making it in America in the 1920s.