Casa Rodrigo by Johnny Miles
With the lack of Gay Historical romance out there, I’m surprised that Casa Rodrigo had not a much wider word of mouth, above all since it’s also set in a not so common period, the XVII century in La Española, one of the major islands in the Caribbean.
Until more or less the date when this novel start, La Española was a Spanish colony, but it was also a dangerous place to do business. The author probably chose this set to justify the not so clear business of two Andalusian men, Bernardo and Raul; apparently the worst of enemies, they are linked by a destructive passion. Even if Raul is the villain of this story, I can understand him a bit; he is probably a man that, if lead by someone with high principle, would have been better. Instead he fell in love with Bernardo and Bernardo “betrayed” him to follow the strict rules of their time, marry and have an heir.
Years later, Bernardo has two sons and a dwelling business; Raul comes back to him with a devil pact, something Bernardo is not able to refuse. As Raul is not entirely bad, Bernardo is not fully an hero: it’s true that he saved a little slave from Raul’s wrath, Arbol, but he actually hasn’t done anything else for the boy. Arbol spent the first five years of his life hidden in an attic to then become a field slave in La Española; the only good memory is his friendship with Alonso, Bernardo’s son, 7 years older than Arbol.
When Bernardo brought Arbol home, Alonso took care of him, but not like a brother, more like a cherished pet; and when five years later Bernardo decided to leave Arbol in La Española, it didn’t take much time to Alonso to forget about the boy. 14 years later, when both Bernardo than Alonso are coming back to La Española, Alonso has no memory of the boy, while instead Arbol has dreamt about Alonso.
Arbol is an innocent man, in many aspects; he is not cultured, refined, but he has a good heart. He thinks to Alonso like a prince, like the man who will allow him to have a better life, but Arbol has no dream of freedom, since he doesn’t know what freedom is. Arbol wants a little home, a comfortable bed and that is enough for him.
On the other hand, even if Alonso is the hero of this story, I found him a spoiled brat. He wants Arbol like he would have wanted a new toy; maybe later in the story he falls in love, but in any case I have the feeling that what he wants is still more important than Arbol himself. And this is probably his best feature since it’s perfectly in line with the time and his upbringing. Alonso is a middle class man who basically hasn’t a trouble in his life; he will inherit his father business, he is not against the idea and so he is good with that. He has no desire to “escape”, he doesn’t feel constrict by the society he is living in. Maybe he was a little too naïve for his age, 25 years old in the XVII century was almost middle life, and indeed his father took him in his first travel when he was barely 11.
The novel pushes also a lot on the sex and its description, and again, I think it was quite right with the setting; men at the time were more instinctual, there was very little romanticism, if not for some poems, like the one Bernardo likes.
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
BTW: the picture on the cover is not a Caribbean beach, it's the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park at Big Sur... beautiful place ;-)
by Elisa, 2009