Book Review: La Belle Créole

Title: La Belle Créole

Author: Alina García-Lapuerta

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕

As a history major I have always been frustrated by the lack of biographies and histories of women who were not part of the Western European Royal and Noble elite. When I was given the opportunity to read La Belle Créole, I was intrigued. I had never heard of María de las Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo, the Comtesse Merlin, to be honest I didn’t know anything about Cuban culture during the Spanish Colonial period – let alone the women who lived through it.

Comtesse Merlin, or Mercedes, was born into some of the most powerful families in colonial Cuba. Her life was one of glamour and constant upheaval while the world changed around her. She persevered as she left her homeland for Spain in 1802, at the age of 13, experienced the fall of the Spanish crown, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and her own success as the hostess of Paris’s leading salon. Mercedes was not the only noble to struggle during the uncertain political climate of the Napoleonic and Restoration eras, but she is definitely one of the more fascinating ones. She didn’t have affairs or cause political intrigue; she was known for her kindness, her love of music, and her love for her family and homeland.  

I’ve mentioned this in the past and I will continue to mention it because I believe it to be very important – if the work is non-fiction, read the author’s note or introduction, and La Belle Créole is no different. Alina García-Lapuerta begins by defining the term “créole”, a word that made me think of Gambit from the X-Men. What I didn’t know was that the term créole referred to anyone born on a colony; in Cuba the term was also used for anything that came from the colonies, to differentiate it from Spain. She also clears up some naming issues amongst other things. Thankfully the author did include a partial family tree, but I wish she had placed it at the beginning with the introduction instead of in the back after the index and bibliography.

The author clearly has a deep appreciation for Mercedes and pre-Revolutionary Cuba. The research was well done and the author did well to question certain accounts from Mercedes and her contemporaries. Her descriptions of the palaces and grand estates in colonial Cuba painted a vivid picture of a time of wealth and family prestige. Alina García-Lapuerta did touch on slavery as it affected Mercedes but didn’t delve further, although there were occasions where I believe she wanted to go into more detail but chose not to. I wish the author had shown some of that restraint when talking about Mercedes’ time as a successful salon hostess. After the initial descriptions of notable guests and events she continued on and on to where it became repetitive.

Overall La Belle Créole is a beautiful story about an extraordinary woman who lived during an extraordinary time. A must read for anyone interested in women’s history or women of the time who were not Marie Antoinette or Josephine Bonaparte. I look forward to reading more from Alina García-Lapuerta, perhaps maybe a history of colonial Cuba…

**NetGalley provided me with an advanced reader copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.**