★★★★☆ Fantasy of a corrupt golden age

The Familiar

Leigh Bardugo

The publisher describes Leigh Bardugo's The Familiar as a "historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age". That description is accurate, but gives a misleading idea of the book. The Spanish Golden Age or Siglo de Oro is a name given to the period from 1492 - 1659, during which Spanish art, culture, and political power flourished. It was also the height of persecution of anyone suspected of heresy or Jewish ancestry. "Golden" is not the adjective that will come to mind as you read.

The main point-of-view character is Luzia Cotado, a scullion in the household of Valentina and Marius Ordoño. Luzia is the orphan child or parents who were secretly Jewish. From her Jewish ancestors she inherits the ability to make "milagritos". ("Milagrito" is a diminutive of "milagro" -- miracle, thus "milagrito" is "little miracle". There is a lot of Spanish in The Familiar. You don't need to understand Spanish to follow it, but you will get a bit more out of it if you do.) She makes her milagritos by singing refranes in Ladino. She can do little things like fixing a burnt loaf of bread or lightening the weight of the water buckets she must daily carry.

The Ordoños are not kind masters, but they are not really cruel. Luzia survives as a servant survives, by doing what she's told, keeping her mouth shut, and never showing a spark of intelligence. This grim existence (and the first half of The Familiar is very grim) continues until Valentina discovers Luzia's milagritos. She decides to use Luzia's abilities to wow her friends. Well, you can probably guess what happens. It works, but it works all too well. She comes to the attention of powerful people.

One of these powerful people, Víctor de Paredes, takes charge of Luzia. Paredes has a familiar, Guillén Santángel (full name: Guillén Barcelo Villalbas de Canales y Santángel), also known as el Alacrán -- the Scorpion. (It is his hand you see on the cover.) Santángel becomes Luzia's teacher.

After the grim first half, Luzia, the Ordoños, Paredes, and Santángel get caught up in palace intrigues. The game Luzia and Santángel are playing becomes very dangerous, and I will tell you no more of events. Well, one thing -- the book has a creative magical ending that I quite enjoyed.

Bardugo tells us in her Acknowledgments

Some of my own ancestors fled Spain during the 1492 expulsion. Some remained for a time but were eventually forced into exile. My final thank-you is to the ghosts who kept me company throughout this book’s writing.

In fact, although "historical fantasy" is an accurate label for this book, it feels more like history than fantasy to me. It reminded me of Ninth House in this way: it is a novel in which fantasy is used to ornament a real-world story.

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