DEFIANCE AND REDEMPTION:
A LIFETIME OF UNBROKEN BONDS
Based on a true story, Defiance and Redemption, A Lifetime of Unbroken Bonds, brings to life the joys, dramas, and triumphs of two sisters, Eva and Victoria Alisio and their loyal friend Marta. The sisters are raised by their atheist Grandfather Marcus and religious Grandmother Maria Luisa. Eva, a proud and strong-willed young woman defies her family, society, and culture, faces scandal and disgrace, for her forbidden love affair. Victoria finds herself in the center of a multigenerational conflict as her benefactor bestows a great inheritance on her excluding the rightful heirs. Marta, loyal to the childhood bond with the Alisio sisters, brings humor and support to their twists and turns of fortune. The young women’s bond of love, and perseverance, carries them through ordinary and extraordinary losses, triumphs, and ultimately to their destiny in the United States.
An important novel about 20th Century women, Defiance and Redemption, is an absorbing epic that moves through decades and destinies. It blends personal and historical events into a collective tale of self-determination, love, and sisterhood.
The national swimming champion, Eduardo Velasquez, lay dying in a
hospital bed in Ecuador, South America. His stomach was filled with cancer. He
had always lived for the present, so he rarely ever thought of his death, least
of all at fifty-two. In the hospital room were six of his children. The eldest,
Amalia, was standing close by his bedside. She was the product of his
relationship with the great passion of his life, Eva, a woman he had loved and
lost.
At the foot of the bed,
across the room, was Dolores, his wife of twenty years, and her
adolescent children. On the other side of his bed, seated by the wall, were two
young adult children from his extramarital affairs. He had brought these
children to his wife to raise when they were infants.
Many miles away, two more of his
illegitimate children would leave their jungle home and arrive in threadbare
clothing the following day to attend his funeral at La Immaculada Concepción
church. The two would enter the church, misspell their last name on the guest
roster and weep in each other’s arms. At the church, they would find well-known
sports figures, celebrities from the world of entertainment, politicians, and
the news media from various parts of South America. Many of the citizens of
Guayaquil would be there to file through the church and pay their respects to
their hero and champion.
Few in Eduardo’s family would notice the
two offspring until later. When their identities were discovered, many would be
shocked and outraged. Many, but not his daughter Amalia. She loved her father
with the bittersweet adoration her mother had imbued in her. She loved him with
blindness, which forgave him everything, his extramarital affairs, his
illegitimate children, even the fact that he had spent little time in her life.
But Dolores, his wife, could not forgive
him. She had suffered too many of his infidelities. Through the years, her
resentment had turned into bitterness and eventually a weary resignation. Yet,
she often comforted herself with the rationalization that she was his wife. The
other women had been mere interludes in his life. Her position in society was
clearly defined and well regarded.
In her culture, it was common and even
expected that men would misbehave and that the consequences might be illegitimate
children. That was nothing new. Yet sometimes, as the men aged, they settled
down. They would then spend their older years in the company of their patient
wives and beloved grandchildren. This had long been Dolores’ hope, a hope that
died when Eduardo’s cancer was discovered three months earlier.
Now, she felt the ultimate betrayal. He
would abandon her once again, this time, forever. Not only was this fatal
reality approaching, but he also was dying without a will, a fact that further
complicated her life. She had her attorney fashion a will making her and her
children universal heirs, but Eduardo would not sign it. No matter how many
times she placed his weak hand on the document, his eyes would look at it, he’d
whisper, “no,” and he would drop the pen.
Welcome to the blog! The first page is perhaps one of the most
important pages in the whole book. It’s what draws the reader into the story.
Why did you choose to begin your book this way?
This novel is based on a true story which includes the passing of my father. I wanted to begin and end the story with his death, and everything in between would go back in time. As an aside, Ernest Hemingway once said, “Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true storyteller who would keep that from you.”
In the course of writing your book, how many times would you say
that first page changed and for what reasons?
It didn’t change substantially because it fundamentally occurred as I described it. Any rewriting was more to do with editing in terms of grammar and the like, or because I had to be careful to change character’s names for the sake of privacy and to stay true to the fact that this is a fiction novel not a memoir.
Was there ever a time after the book was published that you wished
you had changed something on the first page?
No.
What advice can you give to aspiring authors to stress how important
the first page is?
In some of the most classic stories in literature not just the first page but the first sentence is important in a reader’s decision to keep reading. Here are some examples.
“You better not tell anyone but God.” Alice Walker, The Color Purple
You are hooked to find out what is the secret?
“If I am out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog.” Saul Bellow, Herzog
Why is it ok? Tell me more!
George Orwell, 1984, “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
Thirteen? I know this is going to be a strange world.
In Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
You want to find what kind of environment is this? Let me read on!
If you can get the reader from the first sentence to continue through the first page, hopefully the reader will be engrossed and continue engrossed until the end.
Thank you, Hooked On Page One for your invitation! You ask great questions and I hope readers enjoyed learning about my new novel as I enjoyed sharing the insights with them!
Maria J. Andrade was born in Ecuador, South America, and raised in New York and California. She has a bachelor of arts degree in English literature and a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology. As a licensed therapist and writer, Maria has been diving into other people’s minds and her own, through dreams, poetry, and books for over three decades. She traveled with the Four Winds Society where she studied and was initiated into Andean shamanism in 1990.
Before Maria retired as a therapist, she specialized in women’s issues and founded the Wise Women’s Circle a ritualistic and transpersonal study group that continues today. The women support each other through life’s challenges and in the growth of mind, body, and spirit.
Maria Andrade’s books for children and adults is found in a variety of genres. This is an unforgettable first novel that reflects her imagination and creative storytelling.
Defiance and Redemption is her latest release.
Visit her website at www.booksasfriends.com or connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.
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