AMAZON THRONE

by H Harding ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 29, 1941

Here, with her unfailing sense of the dramatic and the picturesque, Bertita Harding has unfolded a story little known to the American audience, the checkered career of Brazil's Portuguese rulers. Three generations she has aptly designated as The Emigrant, the story of Dom Joan and Infanta Carlotta and the mad mother queen, Maria of Braganza, who had escaped from the Napoleonic armies in Lisbon and been accepted joyfully by the people of Brazil; The Immigrant is the story of the eldest son, from Dom Pedro, left as reigning emperor, with his good and homely wife, Leopldina and his notorious mistress, the Brazilian Pompadour Domitila; and finally The Native Son, Dom Pedro II, and his grotesquely ugly wife. Thereza, whose years of travel ended finally with death in exile as Brazil became a republic. Fascinating reading, if sometimes confusing with details of European cross-wiring, and the complicated inter dynasty power politics. There is a good sense of story and character, and the light thrown on a period and locale in South America gives it added value today when there is great interest in our neighbors to the South. Not as glamorous, perhaps, as her Austrian settings, but fresh, vital, and a better piece of craftsmanship than possibly anything else she has written.

Pub Date: May 29, 1941

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1941

Categories: NONFICTION