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At the risk of betraying my age, I confess to eagerly anticipating the weekly installments of Zorro's escapades on our (ahem, black and white) television. While the Hollywood version back then was akin --- in creativity, at least --- to the old adventures of The Lone Ranger, Isabel Allende's version is enormously fuller and infinitely more interesting, bursting with a vivid and colorful personality.
These are the early years, just the first couple decades of Diego de la Vega's life, but they explain how a boy of mixed blood became a man driven to right terrible wrongs, save damsels in distress, free prisoners unjustly held, and all manner of heroic deeds.
The story begins in the early 1800s in Alta California, a colony then held by Spain. Diego grows up alongside Bernardo, a servant's son, but treats him as a brother, not caring that their stations in life are vastly different. Diego's grandmother, White Owl, teaches them about okahue, the five basic virtues. Almost without realizing it, nearly everything the boys do thereafter pushes them further toward honor, justice, respect, dignity and courage. During an ancient ritual test they undergo to prove themselves, Diego's alter ego is revealed to him, setting him on the path to becoming the full-fledged Zorro.
Diego and Bernardo board a ship bound for Barcelona, expanding their adventures and making friends who may prove valuable later. They spend several years in Spain, furthering Diego's studies and exposing him to Juliana de Romeu, the enchanting beauty who steals his heart and ruins him for any other woman. But Juliana has many suitors, one exceedingly tenacious --- unfortunately, also unscrupulous. Well-connected Rafael Moncada, it seems, will stop at nothing to win her hand. As ZORRO's narrator points out, it wouldn't be much of a story without a formidable villain. And Moncada is a truly formidable villain. While Diego wistfully watches Juliana, her younger sister Isabel zealously watches Diego. He finds it hard to move so much as a muscle without Isabel's keen scrutiny. And, quietly, in the background always, is Bernardo, Diego's silent brother, without whom he would be incomplete.
Spain during this time is undergoing some painful political upheavals. Zorro works a little magic, but he is up against daunting odds. The de Romeu family finds themselves misaligned with the new government, and Diego finds himself misaligned with Moncada. It becomes necessary for Diego to smuggle the sisters out of Europe, back to America where it is hoped they will be safe. This, of course, leads to more high seas adventure, fraught with storms, bad omens, pirates, grumbling sailors and a host of other maladies. Back at home, Diego finds many more challenges for Zorro, for not all is as he left it. And some of his troubles follow him from Spain.
ZORRO is a terrific, new-fashioned swashbuckling tale full of fun, history and romance.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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