City of Silver

by Annamaria Alfieri

Book Overview

In Potos?, the richest city in the Western Hemisphere, Inez de la Morada, the bewitching, cherished daughter of the rich and powerful Mayor, mysteriously dies at the convent of Santa Isabella de los Santos Milagros, where she had fled in defiance of her father. It looks as though the girl committed suicide, but Mother Abbess Maria Santa Hilda believes her innocent and has her buried at the convent in sacred ground. Fray Ubaldo DaTriesta, local Commissioner...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031238386X
• ISBN13: 9780312383862
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 317 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Worthwhile time travel

Annamaria Alfieri's CITY OF SILVER is an historical mystery that tells a story that is contemporary in the revelations of the things that move men, and women, to do the worst to each other. CITY OF SILVER is two stories. The first begins with the death of Inez de la Morada who has fled to the local convent, pleading for sanctuary. She refuses to tell the Abbess from what she is fleeing but she insists that the convent is the only place she will be safe. Inez is the daughter of the richest and most powerful man in Potosi, Alcalde de la Morada, the leader of the community. Why is Inez, the cherished daughter, hiding from the father who treated her as the son he never had? Inez insists that she wants to join the religious order to atone for the sins of the world. Abbess Maria Santa Hilda isn't convinced of Inez's motives but they are quickly irrelevant when Inez is found dead in her locked cell. There are no marks on her body and nothing unusual in the room. There is a partially empty glass of water and a flagellum similar to that used by all the nuns to mortify the flesh but nothing that explains the sudden death of a healthy young woman. It is Holy Week, so Inez must be buried quickly and without the pomp that would normally surround the death of a member of the city's most prominent family. Inez's father agrees to have her buried with the deceased nuns of the order in the church. Soon, rumors spread that Inez committed suicide, leaving the Abbess open to the dangers of the Inquisition for having broken church law by allowing a suicide to be buried in consecrated ground. The king's representative for the Inquisition gloats at the possibility of bringing down the Abbess who has allowed women to learn to read and write and to believe that they have a greater role than Spanish society grants them. Inez's father has problems of his own. The silver mines of Potosi have been sending coins to the king's coffers in Spain that have been adulterated with alloy. The face value is not the real value and this is a threat to the Spanish economy and its dominance in the Americas. The king's investigator is coming to demand answers but it is far more concerning that papers that would label Morada a traitor are missing from the secret compartment in his desk. Greed, corruption, jealousy, fear, arrogance, and hate motivate the actions of most of the male figures in the story. And while the women are not above these same faults, CITY OF SILVER is a story of strong women. "...Maria Santa Hilda knew well Fray DaTriesta's distaste for the company of women....he never looked her in the face. He cleaved to the conviction of many priests - that women were the source of all evil. It was true, she thought petulantly, if you considered that women were the source of all men." DaTriesta's hate of the abbess leads to her arrest and trial by the Inquisitor but it doesn't stop Sor Monica, the herbalist at the convent, from risking her life and freedom to prove how Inez died s

Terrific historical.

This historical wonderfully depicts seventeenth-century Potosi and its religious, cultural, and political tensions through well-developed characters. A terrific read.

Well Done!!

A fast paced intellectual read. There are those authors who respect the intelligence of their reader. Annamaria Alfieri is such an author. In a style that brings to mind Isabel Allende, Alfieri weaves a literary mystery set in 1650 Peru, yet, deals with issues as current as today's headlines. Her characters are well rounded and gradually unfold to us with every intriguing turn of the page. And she accomplishes this without the annoying habit some writers have of constantly repeating what the reader already knows. Annamaria Alfieri builds on the foundation of City of Silver, a strong, captivating first novel. Well Done! M.S White

Unique historical setting: a great read

Riches always come with a cost and so many a story of a mining boomtown is filled with crime, greed, harsh conditions, and the inevitable bust once the treasure is mined out. And so we find ourselves living the story of a mining town, but not on the Western frontier. "City of Silver" takes readers to the seventeenth century setting of Peru under the heavy hand of Spanish rule. Potosi, now in modern-day Bolivia, was once the richest city in the New World due to its silver mines, a fabulous source of wealth giving rise to the wishful dubbing of subsequent American mining towns by the same name. Racial tensions between the Spanish and the natives simmer hot and the Protestant reformation threatens Catholic strength. Besides that, alarming rumors of counterfeit coins, thus violating confidence in Potosi's wealth and threatening Spain's economic power, cause further unrest in the city. The King of Spain, in fact, is so disturbed at the news that he's sending a Grand Inquisitor to investigate, striking fear into both loyal citizens and criminals alike. And then Mother Maria Santa Hilda, Abbess of the local convent, opens her door to Inez Rojas de la Morada, daughter of one of the town's most powerful men. Inez refuses to speak of her reasons for seeking sanctuary, and shortly after Maria Santa Hilda finds her dead, in a locked room: suicide or murder? Uncovering old secrets and the dark side of Potosi's fabulous wealth is a dangerous proposition--some things are easier left buried. The mystery of Inez's death and life plays out against the mystery of the counterfeit coins, the two stories neatly intersecting as Maria Santa Hilda stubbornly pursues her inquiry with the gumption of a true PI, though her duty to her order and her bishop frequently wars with her duty to the truth. Skillful incorporation of the religious, sexual, racial, and political aspects of life--and for the non-Spanish, non-male, non-Catholic, or non-wealthy, they could be pretty grim--at that time give "City of Silver" an authentic historical feel, and the unusual period setting gives this mystery a distinction all its own. Life in the rarified air of the Andes four hundred years ago may have been quite different, but we see that greed and murder, and thus human nature, rarely change.

great mid seventeenth century historical fiction

In 1650, Spanish King Felip IV is concerned with a flood of impure silver coins that threatens the very foundation of the empire. He sends the Visitador General Doctor Francisco de Nestares to Potosi, the largest city in the New World and the center of silver production to investigate and execute those coining the counterfeits. At the same time in Potosi, Inez Rojas de la Morada, daughter of the Alcalde Municipal, apparently commits suicide while inside an abbey. The New Spain Grand Inquisitor Fray Perdro de la Gasca sees an opportunity to strengthen his control; he blames the abbess Mother Maria Santa Hilda. He calls her a heretic because she was allowing Inez to be interred in holy ground. Not one to sit idly by, Mother Maria sets out to prove that Inez was a murder victim and did not take her life. Her inquiry uncovers implications that some of her people are involved in the watering down of the silver. This is a great mid seventeenth century historical fiction that grips the audience from the moment the Spanish monarch sends his "investigator" to New Spain and never slows down as the tale turns into an exhilarating amateur sleuth with a clock ticking. Revelations abound that stun the Mother Superior while the Visitador General and the New Spain Grand Inquisitor do their respective jobs. The mystery is cleverly done to entertain readers with strong competing inquiries pulled by personal agendas; in which the truth may prove irrelevant but even more so to provide a deep vivid look at the biggest city in the seventeenth century New World. Awesome Annamaria Alfieri will be fully welcomed by the genre. Harriet Klausner