Bea Gonzalez - The Mapmaker’s Opera

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

HarperCollins Publishers

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Canada by HarperCollins Publishers 2005

A paperback original 2006

Copyright © Béa Gonzalez 2005

Béa Gonzalez asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007207794

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2016 ISBN: 9780007386505

Version: 2016-08-24

For Andrew, who taught me to look up at the sky, and our dear pingüinos, Will and Andre, who bring such joy to our lives.

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Seguiriya

Dramatis Personae

ACT ONE

Overture

SCENE ONE: As we walk on sacred ground

SCENE TWO: We listen to the woes of Doña Fernanda

SCENE THREE: On a stone bench, a seguiriya

SCENE FOUR: Inside a bookstore on the Calle San Vicente

SCENE FIVE: Sorry her lot

SCENE SIX: The house on the other side of the world

ACT TWO

SCENE ONE: In a Mérida square

SCENE TWO: Two birds

SCENE THREE: In a Mérida bookstore

SCENE FOUR: A hacienda on the outskirts of bliss itself

ACT THREE

SCENE ONE: Inside the oldest cathedral of the New World

SCENE TWO: At the Virgen de Guadalupe Ball

SCENE THREE: Ah! je vais l’aimer

SCENE FOUR: A song with wings

SCENE FIVE: Two birds in hand

THE CURTAIN CALL

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Publisher

It begins in a once-upon-a-time land, on a remote plain, far from the place we call home. It begins with a dreamy voice, closed eyes, and a glass of warm milk to tame the chill of a too-cold night.

In the background, the first notes sound out, preparing to lure us in.

A seguiriya tonight, perhaps?

“No, something livelier,” she says, “something irrepressible, something joyous.” She stops to think. “Ah, yes, I have it, niños! A bulería sung by the incomparable Lola Flores, all passion, all grit, a voice with which to tame the wind!”