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Editorial Review:
She paced in front of Rafael’s memorial, rubbing the prized belt buckle, and thinking out loud. “I am the man of the family, and I will leave tomorrow for the gold country. All these foreigners up there are getting rich. I’m going to get our share, Papa. I panned gold right here with you and I’ll do it up north.”
Juanita Sagovia has worked hard on her family’s rancho for as long as she can remember, growing and tending to bean plants, and selling them locally for profit. Since the death of her father, her family has scraped by on the sale of the beans, keeping them afloat. Although her mother can be strict, and the days are long and laborious, Juanita has no complaints. She is satisfied with running the rancho, and living with her mother and sisters.
The arrival of men on horseback, demanding to see proof that Juanita’s family owned the rancho, for the change from colonial law to new federal jurisdictions, turned everything upside-down. Although they have the papers that show them as the landowners, the new laws seem to have been written to make it impossible for any native Mexicans to stay. Taxes are extortionate, and with a total of two thousand dollars to pay, or else lose the rancho her father worked so hard on, and is buried on, Juanita has to figure out a way to make the money, and quickly.
“When we were young Papa played guitar, we sang and danced. That made us all happy. Then, Papa died. Now Mexico is dying.” They continued in silence. “Happy? Nothing will make me happy until I get the money to keep our tierra.”
Together with Johnny Domingo, a half-gringo with blue eyes that could let him easily pass as not being Mexican at all, Juanita begins a journey unlike any she has ever ventured on before. The plan is to follow the North Star, to make it to Downieville, the gold country, and make her fortune as so many others had before her. However, the path ahead is thwarted by danger, and simply making it to Downieville and back alive seems to be much harder than Juanita originally anticipated.
Although the odds are stacked against her, Juanita is determined not to see her family’s home fall into the hands of foreigners. 1851 by Carlo Perez Allen follows Juanita’s story as she puts all her efforts into raising the money she needs to keep hold of the only home she has ever known.
Juanita is a character I loved from the first few pages. Her dedication to her father’s rancho, and her resolve to keep it running smoothly, is admirable, especially so when things start to go wrong and she must find a way to keep the rancho her father cherished. She is an incredibly positive individual, who always jumps to the next idea with vigour and resolve, even if the last plan ended dreadfully. She is fierce when it comes to what she believes in, and has little care for her own safety when it comes to fighting for what’s right, fair, and true. She is a true patriot for Mexico, the country she belongs to, and the country she believes she will continue to reside in, no matter what other people may say.
This novel clearly demonstrates just how much the natives of California were pushed out of their own country to make room for industrialisation and white settlers. The Mexicans were not the first to the land, but they preceded the whites who were attempting to push them out, and take over their homes. For Juanita, all she has ever known is Mexico, and her family’s rancho, and suddenly she is being told that she is inferior, that she no longer has any right to the rancho, and she begins to fear for her life. All around, Mexicans are being driven out or slaughtered, and the Americans even have the audacity to call the Mexicans the ‘foreigners’. Like a virus, the Americans spread across the land and began their coordinated attack on the lives of those living there, causing chaos and mass panic amongst the Mexicans. Juanita’s mission is simply to keep the land she has grown up on, and yet, now she is not even allowed to step foot inside certain establishments. It is heartbreaking for her to watch the country that she loves so much, and that her father had so much pride in, taken over and her fellow countrymen massacred.
An etched sign arched over the white door that read: Open Hearts — Open Minds — Open Doors. To the right of the entrance stood another sign, a plank with burnt wood message: No Mexicans.
There is a touch of romance within the pages of this book. It can be predicted that when Juanita and Johnny set out on their journey alone, it will not take them long to develop feelings for one another. And yet, to begin with, Juanita does not particularly like Johnny, and he must work to gain her attention, let alone keep it. His determination to woo her, despite his lack of experience and her apparent disinterest, is enough to prove that his heart was truly in the right place when he agreed to travel with her to ensure her safety. Johnny is a loveable character, although he can come across as rather naive. Together, they are ready to take on whatever comes their way, and they are a couple I was rooting for from the beginning of the novel to the end.
The historical context of this novel is fascinating. I am not overly familiar with the specifics of the Californian Gold Rush, but you do not need to know much to follow this story. The discovery of gold brought hundreds of thousands of people to the area to mine and pan for gold, but the influx of people and money had devastating effects on those already living in California. Juanita is the perfect character to follow, as she has knowledge passed on from her father about gold panning and the fortune so many people found by panning for gold, and she readily shares such information with the reader, making it easy to follow along without getting lost if you don’t necessarily know the historical facts. The addition of historical characters, such as Three Fingered Jack, an outlaw roaming the Sierra Nevada mountain range, added a sense of realism to the story. I did enjoy following Jack - although he does not have as much time in the spotlight as Juanita and Johnny, he is an important character in this novel, and one I couldn’t help but like. He is not a particularly nice individual, but when he confronts people you could easily refer to as monsters, he seems more of a vigilante than a bandit.
1851 by Carlo Perez Allen is a novel about determination, ostracisation, and the power that true love can hold through thick and thin. It is a captivating novel I struggled to put down, and one that I highly recommend.
*****
“1851” by Carlo Perez Allen receives five stars and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence from the Historical Fiction Company
Award:
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