Blurb:
It’s 1775 in Mexico,
New Spain, and 15-year-old Fernanda Marquina, half Spanish and half Pima
Indian, can’t seem to live up to her mother’s expectations or fit into the
limited female roles of her culture. A tragic accident sets her on a course for
the adventure she longed for but at a greater cost than she could ever have
imagined. With her family, Fernanda joins Juan Bautista de Anza’s historic
colonization expedition to California. On the arduous four month journey,
Fernanda will find not only romance, but she’ll discover truths that will
change the way she sees her ancestry, her family, and herself.
Author:
Linda Covella’s varied
job experience and education (associate degrees in art, business and mechanical
drafting & design, a BS degree in Manufacturing Management) have led her
down many paths and enriched her life experiences. But one thing she never
strayed from is her love of writing.
Her first official
publication was a restaurant review column in a local newspaper. But when she
published articles for various children’s magazines, she realized she’d found
her niche, writing for children and teens. She hopes to bring to kids and young
adults the feelings books gave her when she was young, the worlds they opened,
the things they taught, the feelings they ex-pressed.
No matter what new
paths Linda may travel down, she sees her writing as a lifelong joy and
commitment.
Excerpt:
August – October 1775
Chapter One
Fernanda pressed her
heels into the horse’s sides. “Faster, pretty one, faster. We want to feel the
wind in our hair, no?”
The horse flicked its
ears then galloped across the plain toward the river, kicking up stones from
the hard ground. Fernanda leaned closer to the horse’s neck, her long braid
slipping over her shoulder. The animal’s smell of grassy manure and sweat
filled her with the thrill of riding. It had been too long.
Her body rocked
forward and back with the rhythm of the pounding hooves. Water streaked from
her eyes as she raced across the desert, dodging barrel cactuses and mesquite
bushes. Her rebozo loosened and slipped to her shoulders; then the shawl untied
completely and was gone. Fernanda glanced over her shoulder and saw it flutter
to the ground. A laugh burst from her chest, and watching a hawk glide, dive,
and then fly high into the sky, she thought, I feel as free as that bird!
The power of the horse
flowed through her, charging her with the desire for adventure, her heart
soaring beyond Tubac to worlds far away, worlds full of golden riches, handsome
men, and green hills that rolled on forever. Worlds where she would ride,
explore, and each day discover something new.
Before realizing how
far she’d gone, she saw her family’s adobe hut. She tightened the reins,
stopped the horse, and squinted toward the house. Her soaring heart dropped
like the hawk diving to the ground. There, in front of the hut with her hands
on her hips, stood her mother. Fernanda braced herself against the scowl she
was sure to see on Mama’s face when she returned. The scolding words she was
sure to hear.
Fernanda turned the
horse around and headed back to her brother Luis, back to the presidio and the
market. Keeping the animal at a respectable trot, she clenched the reins. Why
did Mama insist galloping was improper? And why did Papa follow her lead when
he knew Fernanda had a special way with horses?
She retrieved the
rebozo and shook the dust and weeds from the rough cotton weave. Then, stopping
the horse in front of Luis, she jumped to the ground and threw the reins to
him. Ignoring the sound of disgust he forced from his mouth, she marched over
to her mule and flung the shawl across the two baskets of vegetables slung over
its back.
“I told you to be
quick,” Luis said. “Nicolas is back from Horcasitas, and I promised I would
safely deliver these horses to him.” He held the leads of two other horses.
Fernanda eyed in the
distance the high adobe walls and closed gates of the presidio, Tubac’s
military garrison. She was grateful for a chance to ride, and doubly grateful
she’d been able to avoid Nicolas. After pressure from him — and Mama — she’d
finally promised to set a date for their marriage once he returned from the
capital.
“I’m only back this
soon because Mama saw me,” Fernanda said. “I expect I’ll hear her usual
lament—“ She held her head between her hands and said in a high wailing voice,
“Why oh why must my daughter run around like a wild Apache?”
Luis laughed and
nudged his sister. “Perhaps Mama is right. After all, a girl can never ride as
well as a man.”
“And you are a man? At
twelve years old?” But the truth was, even though Fernanda was three years
older than Luis, someday he would have all the privileges of manhood, while she’d
always simply be — a woman. She straightened her bodice and dusted off the
sleeves of her blouse and her skirt. “You’d best deliver your horses, and I
must sell my vegetables, or Mama will have another reason to be angry with her
wild, troublesome daughter.”
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