Summary of The Familiar a novel by Leigh Bardugo

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Summary of The Familiar a novel by Leigh Bardugo

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Leigh Bardugo's novel, set in the Spanish Golden Age, follows Luzia Cotado, a scullion in Madrid, who uses magic to improve her family's social position. Her mistress discovers a servant's talent for miracles and demands Luzia use it to gain the king's favor. Luzia enters a world of seers, alchemists, holy men, and hucksters, where the lines between magic, science, and fraud are uncertain. As her notoriety grows, she faces the danger of her Jewish blood causing the Inquisition's wrath.

• Language: English
• Publisher: XinXii
• Release date: Apr 17, 2024
• ISBN: 9783989837928

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CHAPTER 1

The story revolves around a woman named Doña Valentina, who is raised by a wealthy and tepid couple. The bread burned in the kitchen, and the calamities that followed might have been different if the cook's son hadn't come home late the night before, and the playwright hadn't been so tired and distracted. If Don Marius had kissed his wife's cheek before going about his business, the tragedy would have been different. Valentina's parents were disappointed in her beauty and the likelihood of a good match. Don Marius Ordoño, a wealthy man, was the best Valentina could hope for, and he had been married to a redheaded heiress who was murdered shortly after their wedding.

On Valentina's wedding day, she wore a golden lace veil and ivory combs in her hair. Don Marius was surprised by the lust that overtook him, possibly inspired by his bride's hopeful eyes or the sight of himself in his wedding clothes. He fell upon his bride in a frenzy of passion, whispering poetry into her ears but vomiting the plump half-chewed bodies of brandied cherries all over the nuptial linen that Valentina had embroidered with her own hands over a period of many weeks.

Doña Valentina felt the absence of love and filled her days irritating their few servants with constant correction and existing in a state of relentless dissatisfaction. One day, she went down to the kitchen twice, checking on her son's obsession with playwright Quiteria Escárcega. When she returned, she found the cook nattering about something to the scullion girl who smelled of damp and always stumbling around the house with her eyes on her graceless feet.

Valentina asked the cook why she saw fit to waste her husband's fortune and her time by once again burning the bread. The cook looked at her dully, sullen eyes red from crying over her foolish son and turned to the table at the center of the kitchen, where the bread waited in its black pan.

Valentina wanted to examine the bread and declare it a liar, but she knew it was not another loaf drawn from the fire to replace the first. She asked the cook for the pork, but the cook reminded her that this was her home and she was never to be the butt of the joke.

Luzia, a woman in a difficult situation, is influenced by her aunt's unhappiness and the bitterness she brings to the kitchen. She worries that her bitterness might spoil the milk or cause vegetables to spoil. Her aunt had warned her about the negative impact of people like weather on their moods, and she had heard the birds sing a song that made her feel sad.

Luzia is not quite Spanish, but she knows she should be careful and sleeps on the cellar floor. She walks to the market every day, trying to find the best price for lamb and heads of garlic and hazelnuts. She is bad at haggling, so she sings Onde iras, amigos toparas when alone on an empty street.

Luzia's mother warned her that she wanted too much, but she continued to sing the song of friendship with the coins themselves. However, she was attacked by twelve copper spiders, and she had to sing over the cheese, cabbage, and almonds to make up for the lost money. Her aunt taught her the words, but the tune was always Luzia's.

Luzia had no way of knowing that Doña Valentina had visited the kitchen or seen the burnt bread in its pan. She wasn't prone to visions or trances, and she didn't see futures in the patterns of spilled salt. If she had, she would have known to leave the bread untouched and endure the discomfort of Doña Valentina's anger rather than the peril of her interest.

CHAPTER 2

Valentina had no handmaid, so the scullion helped her undress, douse candles, and set the chamber pots. Valentina usually ignored her, but this night, she asked her name and asked if she had a suitor. Luzia replied she didn't have a suitor, and Valentina felt ashamed. She wondered if the girl was happy as long as she did her job. She wondered if the cook and the cook thought they would have a laugh at her expense, but they didn't. Valentina knew what she saw.

Valentina, a woman with dark, brown eyes, asks her sister Luzia about what she saw. She feels alone and weak, as if she's found a wolf. Valentina admits she saw nothing, but she's embarrassed. When Luzia leaves, Valentina bolts the door behind her. The next day, she doesn't sleep, waits for water, and doesn't breathe properly. Doña Valentina has been watching her closely since the incident with bread, believing she's trying to get her with petty pranks. She can't leave her house without her husband, father, or priest, and she's heard of rich ladies breaking bones and even dying.

Luzia, a woman with a tired back, played a game with herself, choosing between sitting on a cushion and embroidering all day or taking a walk to the well. She felt Doña Valentina's eyes on her, but she walked to San Ginés, where she remembered her mother, Blanca Cotado, buried beneath her feet. Luzia and her mother had played a game of reciting prayers, but she didn't know if God heard her or understood her language. Today, she had other concerns.

Luzia, a woman from a learned family, visits Hualit's house every few weeks, carrying fresh linen in her market basket. She knows how to be invisible and once saw Hualit's patron, Víctor de Paredes, leaving her aunt's house in a black velvet coach. To avoid questions for her aunt, she walked past Hualit's door, pretending she was on her way. She glimpsed De Paredes's boots and a slender, sickly young man in the corner. When she met his pale gaze, she felt the odd sensation of lifting out of her shoes.

In winter, Luzia noticed the almond trees blooming outside her aunt's house. Aunt Hualit, now Catalina de Castro de Oro, wore stiff lace and black velvet, and her thick black hair was scented with bee balm. Víctor de Paredes, a man with a taste for the exotic, believed Catalina de Castro de Oro was his good luck charm. Luzia wondered if Hualit had managed to enchant her patron, as her fortunes were tied to his. Hualit suggested that if Luzia let go of her, she could solve the mystery for her.

De Paredes' house is decadent and decadent, giving the impression of the forbidden. Hualit, the only servant her aunt keeps, is soft and lush, with honeyed skin and luminous eyes. Luzia wishes she had been born with a bare scrap of her aunt's good looks, but Hualit criticizes her for not being wise enough for beauty. Hualit's maid Ana treats Luzia like a favored pet, and she never gossips. Luzia questions her trustworthiness, but Hualit explains she has had a thousand opportunities to betray her.

Luzia, a woman who has been pitied by her father for corrupting her virtue, is determined to leave Casa Ordoño with her ruined back and knees. She hopes to work in her home, but her father's order forbids it. Luzia struggles to find a match and is unsure of her ability to make a match. She walks unnoticed, looking into the faces of young and old men, but has never had a suitor or kissed someone, except for a drunk who seized her at the market.

Luzia witnessed men and women in narrow alleys, veiled beauties, and coarse talk. A priest opined about what makes a good woman, suggesting skills with needles, conversation, or holding a man's cock. When Don Marius's father fell ill, Luzia was brought to bathe him. She watched him rise and fall, but when she tried to bathe him, he seized her hand and clamped it to his cock. Luzia covered his nose and mouth, and he remained docile until he let her go. The priest warned her not to stay still or she would snap his root off.

Hualit explains that God knows what we're meant for, and she questions why she's taught to read or Latin when a parrot could speak it better. She concludes by wishing for another date.

CHAPTER 3

Doña Valentina, a poor but pious Christian woman, takes out her silver fork to tear a seam on a gown she owns. She feels ashamed and desperate, as she has never seen any illusions or miracles at court. When Luzia returns from church, she accuses the cook of weevils in the rice and demands water for a bath. Valentina slaps her hard across the face, sending her stumbling.

Luzia brings the skirt back to her mistress, and she hears a faint humming noise. She realizes she made