Tonina’s search will take her from Cuba (called Pearl Island in this story) to the Yucatan Peninsula, through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, to present-day Veracruz and finally through Central Mexico. Along the way she’ll wander through Mayan markets, witness one of the famous pre-Hispanic ball games and learn about the indigenous religions, customs, economies and fashions. She’ll visit the imposing pyramids of Tikal and Chichen Itza.
A Pre-Columbian World
For anyone interested in Central America’s indigenous history, this is a travel guide to ancient times. From her research, Wood creates that world as it might have been, peopling it with her own engaging characters.
Tonina was found as an infant floating on the sea in a basket. She was taken ashore and raised by a childless couple who became her adopted grandmother and grandfather. Taller and lighter-skinned than the natives of her childhood home on Pearl Island, her grandparents send her on a contrived mission to the mainland in search of a rare healing flower. But their real goal is that Tonina will find her own people.
Among the Mayans
In Mayan country, she joins a ballplayer who is on his own quest. Together they wander the ancient lands, drawing on their survival skills to combat hunger, betrayal and hardship. Through it all, a romance develops between the two.
In the course of their travels, they acquire a large following of fellow wanderers who eventually number into the thousands.
The surprise ending plays directly into the region’s actual history.
A Satisfying Journey Through Diverse Indigenous Cultures
Tonina and her companions are characters worth knowing. Their travels through the panoramic setting of Central America and Mexico before western settlement are inspiring and the historic information is enlightening. Wood captures the diversity of cultures among the indigenous people and the range of terrain that makes up their lands.
At times the quests of the main characters make abrupt changes (Tonina, for example, initially searches for the healing flower, then suddenly changes direction to search for her mother and her people). The motivation of the followers can also seem confusing at times.
Nevertheless, many of the threads unite at the end, and the book provides a satisfying journey. There’s even some magic the reader can well believe might have happened.
Barbara Wood is an internationally best-selling author. Born in England, she emigrated to the United States as a child. Many of her more than 20 novels delve into ancient times, among them Sacred Ground, The Blessing Stone, and Daughter of the Sun.
Book Details
Woman of a Thousand Secrets by Barbara Wood, Severn House Publishers, Ltd., Surrey, England, 2008.
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