Lo! Jacaranda

About the Book

LO! JACARANDA is a young, Spanish-Gypsy woman in 1760s Spain. As fate would have it, she is born and raised as the daughter of a wealthy ranchero owner. A beautiful life of prosperity and love stretches on before her as the day of her betrothal approaches. However, before the wedding, her gypsy heritage is revealed, and her joy melts away. The Spanish Inquisition condemns her to be burnt at the stake, but always-resourceful Jacaranda escapes and disguises herself as a man. She finds work on a slave ship headed to New Spain, but just when she gets comfortable, pirates seize her ship. To stay alive, she joins their motley crew, only to be sold as a slave once they reach their destination. Blessedly, she is purchased by a missionary who frees her and employs her at his mission in California, still believing her to be a man. There, Jacaranda meets the native tribes of the region and befriends them. However, her troubles are far from over as the Inquisition follows and seeks to punish her for a life of running from who she is.

About the Author

Rev. Harry Freiermuth is a retired Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Monterey in California. His short fiction has been published in The Homestead Review of Hartnell College in Salinas, California, and in A Miracle Under The Christmas Tree for Harlequin. Lo! Jacaranda is his first novella. “Rich in personal flavor reflected in sensitive imagination, the author transports readers to another time and place. This fast-paced tale will delight readers in a way that is both entertaining and educational.” -  The US Review of Books