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La Universal (Novel)
Maeva, 2010, 301 p.
It is the early 1900s and Spain is experiencing sweeping internal transformations fuelled by the onset of new industrial production methods, but especially by changing political ideas. A spate of riots has broken out among the workers and anarchism is gaining strength. Spanish citizens no longer know whether to look to the future with concern or with hope. Against this backdrop, a cast of strange and singular characters assemble at the newly opened boarding house, La Universal, among them a lawyer with no prospects, a frustrated anarchist, a former prostitute, a clairvoyant and an unemployed teacher, with hardly a fixed income between them. When the situation becomes really critical, their ingenious landlord Antonio Azaeta comes up with the happy idea of setting up a circus troupe. The inmates of La Universal all struggle to bring out the best in their talent and put on a good show. Meanwhile, the lawyer Ignacio Wallinstein is investigating the disappearance of Jose Carlos Mendoza, a client at the firm he works for. As the case becomes increasingly complicated, he discovers an unknown facet of the firm’s seemingly straight-laced secretary, the surprising Miss Beltran.
A choral novel with a thriller storyline, a novel of manners and a comic tour de force set in Madrid in the early 20th century
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Perlas para un collar (Pearls for a Necklace)
Historical Tales
Co-author: Ángeles Irisarri
Suma de Letras, 2009, 400 p.
Jewish, Moorish and Christian women in the Middle Ages (790-1484) are the heroines of these thirty tales by two renowned authors, perhaps the most representative writers of historical novels in Spain. The ten stories about Christian women are told by Ángeles de Irisarri and ten about Jewesses by Toti Martínez de Lezea, with the Moorish women featuring in five stories by each. Set in the medieval period, these thirty short stories vividly interweave three cultures and three religions, clearly mirroring the daily lives of the heroines, whether noblewomen or plebeians. The two writers paint an appealing and lively portrait of a society both distant and unfamiliar to today’s readers.
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La flor de la Argoma (Flowers of broom)
Historical novle
Erein, 2008, 352 p.
Two orphaned brothers are sent to be educated with the Jesuits. A few years later, after Queen Isabel II flees Spain for France and all the religious communities are closed, the brothers return to their hamlet in the valley of Araotz de Oñati where, despite their isolation, they are caught up in the clashes between Carlists and liberals. Against the backdrop of the third Carlist war, Bittor and Eladio Urrondo end up fighting one another for ownership of the Urondoa homestead and for the love of one woman, Julia. Essentially a story of traditions, passions and misunderstandings in the midst of the turbulent nineteenth century, this novel is about people from the same family and yet with completely different ways of looking at thing.
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PLACERES REALES. Reyes, reinas, sexo y cocina (Royal Pleasures. kings, Queens, Sex and Cookery)
Historical Tales
Maeva, 2008, 164 p.
Toti M. de Lezea, the successful of historical fiction, has written a collection of ten fascinating and spicy tales revolving around the sexual habits of monarchs and sovereigns such as Henry of Navarre, Mesalina, Napoleon, Fersinand the Catholic and Henry VIII of England. An aphrodisiac recipe and a poem of the age follow each short story or "royal pleasure". An irresistible cocktail of literature, gastronomy and lust.
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El jardín de la oca (Garden of Snakes and Ladders)
Historical novel
Maeva, 2007, 352 P.
The action takes place in the second half of the thirteenth century on a stretch of the ancient route to Santiago de Compostela (between La Rioja, Burgos, Leon and Galicia), a pilgrim’s route travelled by thousands of devout Christians heading to the crypt of St. James the Apostle, but also frequented by adventurers, criminals, military orders, Jews, Muslims, heretics and pagans.
Former Inquisitor Robert Lepetit, expelled from the Church, thinks he has resolved the enigma concealed in the Book of Revelation, the Apocalypse of John: the end of the Catholic religion is near and he is determined to witness the coming of the second Messiah. Meanwhile, a Jewish physician and an old Muslim herbalist who have become firm friends try to decipher the codes of the mysterious Garden of the Goose, a fortune-telling board, or perhaps something entirely different.
Rights sold: Germany (Wolfgang Krüger/Fischer).
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La brecha (The Breach)
Historical novel
Ttarttalo, 2006, 320 p.
San Sebastian, 1813. Joseph Bonaparte has lost the war and the French army beats a hasty retreat from the Peninsula with the allied troops hot on its heels. San Sebastian is the last redoubt under French rule. After five years of occupation, the people of San Sebastian are wondering what will happen. Maritxu, owner of the Casa del Chocolate, decides to stay on and defend her business. Little does she suspect that the long-awaited liberators will ransack and set fire to the city, putting civilians to the sword, or that they will accuse her of supporting the French during the Peninsular War. The women of San Sebastian will have to pay a high price, the highest.
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A la sombra del templo (In the Shade of the Temple)
Historical novel
Maeva, 2005, 346 p.
In 1522 Cardinal Adrian of Utrecht, grand inquisitor and co-regent of the kingdoms of Spain on behalf of the emperor Charles V, was elected as pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Charles was residing in Vitoria, which was in a state of agitation. This novel combines intrigue, revenge, the rekindling of the revolt of the Communards and a love story. A vast array of likeable characters fill the pages of this novel which takes place in the shade of Vitoria’s oldest and most beloved temple, the church of Santa Maria.
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Los grafitis de mama (Mum’s Graffiti)
Novel
Maeva, 2005, 140 p.
This uninhibited and lively monologue recreates a day in the life of a long-suffering middle-aged housewife. Brimming over with humour, this true-life portrait provides a refreshingly new perspective.
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El verdugo de dios (God’s executioner)
Maeva, 2004, 365 p.
Set in the thirteenth century, the reader follows the pilgrims’ road to Santiago across Navarra where the inquisitor Robert Lepetit is persecuting heretics such as Cathars, Templars and the little-known “Agotes”, victims of discrimination for obscure reasons.
Rights sold: Germany (Wolfgang Krüger/Fischer), book club (Círculo de Lectores*)
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La Comunera (The Rebel)
Maeva, 2003, 328 p.
In 1511 María de Pacheco is forced by her father to marry Juan de Padilla, of an inferior social position. But love is born and the young couple go on to lead the insurrection of Castile and defend their people against the imperial troups of Carlos I. María, a strong and rebellious woman, is sent into exile in Portugal.
Rights sold : Portuguese (Europa-America*), book club (Círculo de Lectores*)
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La voz de Lug (The voice of Lug)
Maeva, 2003, 263 p.
Set in the first century BC, this novel recounts the bloody battles between the people of Asturias and the Romans.
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Los hijos de Ogaiz (The sons of Ogaiz)
Historical novel
Ttarttalo, 2002, 345 p., pocket book Maeva, 2007
The novel kicks off in 1328. The death of Charles I, King of France and Navarre, unleashes a dispute over the throne. The people of Navarre seize this opportunity to demand the accession of their own king in a country beset by drought, famine and the Black Death.
It against this backdrop that we meet the Ogaiz brothers, from a family of labourers in the old Lizarra neighbourhood, embroiled with a family of traders from the market town of Estella in a feud fuelled by tradition, ambition, revenge, hardship and suffering, and also by love.
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La abadesa (The Abbess)
Maeva, 2002, 220 p.
The story of Maria Esperanza, born in 1476, the illegitimate daughter of Fernando el Católico and a young woman from Bilbao. Mother and child are abducted and separated on the orders of Isabel la Católica. Maria is taken to a convent and becomes Abbess of a monastery in Avila. She tries to discover what became of her mother.
Rights sold: Germany (Wolfgang Krüger*/ paperback edition Fischer*), book club (Círculo de Lectores*)
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La herbolera (The herbalist)
Ttarttalo, 2000, 477 p.; Maeva, 2006
Set in the Middle Ages, this novel recreates episodes of heresy and its persecution at the hands of the Inquisition in Durango, a town in the Basque Country, through the fictional life of a young healer, Catalina de Goiena.
Rights sold: Germany (Wolfgang Krüger*/Fischer/Weltbild)
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Señor de la guerra (Warlord)
Ttarttalo, 2001; Maeva, 2006
This novel is an enthralling historical fresco of armed conflicts between lords and vassals in the fifteenth century. The author provides us with a magnificent history lesson, while focusing her attention on the fates of Osane and Diego, a young couple who, in the midst of war, fight for their happiness and for a brighter future.
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Las torres de Sancho (The Sancho Towers)
Historical novel
Ttarttalo, 1999, 450 p., pocket book Maeva, 2005
This novel revolves around a fascinating and yet equally obscure historical character, King Sancho III or Sancho the Great, who reigned over most of the Christian territory within the Iberian Peninsula for thirty-one years. Starting with Sancho’s coronation in 1004, Toti Martínez de Lezea ushers the reader into a period of widespread political and social turmoil, in which a diverse array of events and occurrences converge with human adventures: the scheming of the Church to control the pilgrims’ route to Santiago de Compostela, the construction of monasteries and hospitals, the introduction of Romanesque art in the Peninsula, life in the pagan villages up in the mountains and among the Christians and Muslims, and the King’s turbulent love life.
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La calle de la judería (The Jewish quarter)
Ttarttalo, 1998, 488 p.; Maeva 2005
Set in the fifteenth century in Vitoria in the Basque Country, this novel tells the story of Pedro Sanchez de Bilbao, a Jew who converted to Christianity.
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Laure Merle d´Aubigné - Literary Agent - A.C.E.R. - C/ Amor de Dios 1 - 28014 Madrid - Spain
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