Malinche — A Novel by Laura Esquivel

From the bestselling author of Like Water for Chocolate, an extraordinary retelling of the passionate and tragic love affair during the conquest of the Aztecs between the conquistador Cortés and his interpreter, Malinalli.

A brilliant and multilingual woman, Malinalli has been reviled throughout Mexican history for the betrayal of her people—but her role was actually much more complex.

When a young Malinalli's tribe was conquered and enslaved by the Aztec warriors, her grandmother imparted to her that their founding forefather god, Quetzalcoatl, had abandoned them—but he was destined to return with the rising sun and save her tribe from captivity. When the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés first arrives, she—like many—believes he is the reincarnated forefather god of her tribe, here to free them.

With her talent for linguistics, Malinalli became an indespensable guide and translator for Cortés. In the hopes of freeing her people—and wanting to please this supposed god—she welcomes Cortés and assumes her new role as an interpreter for the Spanish. Throughout their travels and various conquests, Cortés and Malinalli gradually fall passionately in love. But it's not long before Malinalli realizes that Cortés's thirst for conquest is all too human, and that he is willing to destroy anyone, even his own men, and even their own love.