Zorro : a novel
/ Isabel Allende
- New York : Harper Collins , c2005.
- 390 p. ; 25 cm.
Born in southern California late in the 18th century, Diego de la Vega is a child of two worlds. His father is an aristocratic Spanish military man turned landowner; his mother, a Shoshone warrior. It is here, during Diego's childhood, that he witnesses the brutal injustices dealth Native Americans by Eorpoean settlers and first feels the inner conflict of his heritage. At the age of sixteen, Diego is sent to Barcelona for a European educaton. In a country chafing under the correction of Naeleonic rule, Diego follow the example of his celebrated fencing master and joins the "La Justicia," a secret underground resistance movment devoted to helping the powerless and the poor. Diego falls in love, saves the persecuted, and confronts for the first time a great rival who emerges from the world of privilege.