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Critics' Opinion:
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First Published:
May 2005, 390 pages
Paperback:
May 2006, 416 pages
A swashbuckling adventure story that reveals for the first time how Diego de la Vega became Zorro, the masked man we all know so well.
A swashbuckling adventure story that reveals for the
first time how Diego de la Vega became the masked man we all know so well.
Born in southern California late in the eighteenth century, he is a child of
two worlds. Diego de la Vega's father is an aristocratic Spanish military
man turned landowner; his mother, a Shoshone warrior. Diego learns from his
maternal grandmother, White Owl, the ways of her tribe while receiving from
his father lessons in the art of fencing and in cattle branding. It is here,
during Diego's childhood, filled with mischief and adventure, that he
witnesses the brutal injustices dealt Native Americans by European settlers
and first feels the inner conflict of his heritage.
At the age of sixteen, Diego is sent to Barcelona for a European
education. In a country chafing under the corruption of Napoleonic rule,
Diego follows the example of his celebrated fencing master and joins La
Justicia, a secret underground resistance movement devoted to helping the
powerless and the poor. With this tumultuous period as a backdrop, Diego
falls in love, saves the persecuted, and confronts for the first time a
great rival who emerges from the world of privilege.
Between California and Barcelona, the New World and the Old, the persona
of Zorro is formed, a great hero is born, and the legend begins. After many
adventures -- duels at dawn, fierce battles with pirates at sea, and
impossible rescues -- Diego de la Vega, a.k.a. Zorro, returns to America to
reclaim the hacienda on which he was raised and to seek justice for all who
cannot fight for it themselves.
Let us begin at the beginning, at an event without which Diego de la Vega would not have been born. It happened in Alta California, in the San Gabriel mission in the year 1790 of Our Lord. At that time the mission was under the charge of Padre Mendoza, a Franciscan who had the shoulders of a woodcutter and a much younger appearance than his forty well-lived years warranted. He was energetic and commanding, and the most difficult part of his ministry was to emulate the humility and sweet nature of Saint Francis of Assisi. There were other Franciscan friars in the region supervising the twenty-three missions and preaching the word of Christ among a multitude of Indians from the Chumash, Shoshone, and other tribes who were not always overly cordial in welcoming them. The natives of the coast of California had a network of trade and commerce that had functioned for thousands of years. Their surroundings were very rich in natural resources, and the tribes developed...
Allende was approached by John Gertz, who owns the rights to Zorro, to write a
literary book about the famous character. Gertz's father had bought the
rights to Zorro from McCulley in 1920 and, in conjunction with Disney, had
developed Zorro into a TV series, comic book and feature film. When Gertz
Jr bought the rights back it occurred to him that Zorro had never been portrayed
in a 'serious' work of literature, so he started searching for a writer to hire
- someone who knew California well, could think in Spanish and had a track
record in historical research.
Initially Allende brushed him off but rather than take no for an answer Gertz
left her with a boxful of artefacts - tapes of old ...
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