The Duty of Daughters / El Deber de las Hijas by Wendy J. Dunn

6 Aug

The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour

I’m very excited to be hosting a stop The Duty of Daughters by Wendy J. Dunn today on the blog tour. We follow Doña Beatriz Galindo, a scholar and advisor to her friend, Queen Isabel of Castile, through Catholic Monarchs-era Spain. Beatriz guides and prepares the queen’s youngest daughter, Catalina of Aragon, to marry Henry VIII in England. I’ve included the book description and a guest post from the author below.

Book Description

Castile, 1490.

Doña Beatriz Galindo is an uneasy witness to the Holy War of Queen Isabel of Castile and her husband, Ferdinand, King of Aragon. A holy war pushing the Moors out of territories ruled by them for centuries.

Beatriz does not want a life like other women. She desires power over her own destiny. Even if this means walking a far harder road.

A passionate and respected scholar, Beatriz serves her friend Queen Isabel of Castile as her advisor. She also tutors the queen’s youngest child, Catalina of Aragon.

Dedicated to Queen Isabel and her children, Beatriz guides the young Catalina of Aragon to walk her own hard life road.

But can she prepare Catalina to be England’s queen?

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link – The Duty of Daughters: https://mybook.to/FPS

Universal Buy Link – El Deber de las Hijas: books2read.com/u/mVoKBA

Guest Post by the Author

The Duty of Daughters, the first part of my Falling Pomegranate Seeds duology, is set in a fascinating period and place in history. It was a time when Columbus won the patronage of Isabel of Castile to seek a route to the New World, and when Isabel and her husband Ferdinand pursued their long holy war. Isabel and Ferdinand were the power couple of their age: Isabel ruled Castile, while Ferdinand ruled the lesser kingdom of Aragon. They usually governed together, but on occasion Isabel had to remind her husband who held the stronger hand.

Beatriz Galindo, my point-of-view character, is inspired by a real historical figure. Married to Francisco Ramírez, master of King Ferdinand’s artillery, who died in one of the king’s battles, Beatriz Galindo was likely an eyewitness to the fall of Granada, which closed one of the final chapters of centuries of Islamic influence in Castile. She was also part of Queen Isabel’s court when Isabel expelled her Jewish subjects after first giving them an ultimatum to convert to Christianity. I believe the expulsion of the Moors and Jews would have shaken Beatriz to her core. As an educated woman, she would have known how much of Europe’s knowledge came from Jewish and Islamic cultures. As part of this destruction, countless priceless Islamic manuscripts were burned, erasing centuries of knowledge. I am a teacher as well as a writer, and I cannot believe Beatriz Galindo, who lectured at the ancient University of Salamanca, would have been happy to witness the burning of irreplaceable books.

Beatriz Galindo lived in a time of immense change and upheaval. As a member of Queen Isabel’s court, she would have accompanied the queen and her family on their peripatetic journey around the kingdom. The court knew Beatriz as “La Latina” (Lady of Latin). She taught Isabel, who had not expected to become queen, Latin, the language of diplomacy in Christendom at the time. History suggests that Queen Isabel, who employed the best tutors for her children, also engaged Beatriz as Katherine of Aragon’s tutor, and likely as tutor to Katherine’s three sisters as well. Beatriz was also a close friend and advisor to the queen. In imagining Beatriz — a woman who was a poet, intellectual, teacher, wife, and mother — I began to wonder what it may have cost her to claim her own life.

Historical women’s actions, or women’s actions at any time, do not really surprise me, but I was surprised to find myself respecting and liking Isabel of Castile. Before I wrote The Duty of Daughters, what I knew about her made me dislike her, but the biographies I read about her life and times changed my view. She was an extraordinary and strong queen, and recognised as such by the people of her time. But what really changed my opinion of her was Isabel the mother. She loved her children and suffered deeply when they were taken from her by death.

I have studied history long enough to know that L. P. Hartley was right when he wrote, The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. My study of Isabel reminded me that I cannot judge people through the context of my own times.

The Duty of Daughters also allowed me to imagine Katherine of Aragon in childhood and early adolescence. The youngest of five children, Katherine suffered sorrow after sorrow before leaving her home to begin her life of exile in England. But she came to England trained and ready to be a queen. Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters imagines how that happened.

Author Bio

Award-winning Australian author of Tudor historical fiction, specialising in Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon novels.

Wendy J. Dunn is an award-winning Australian author, playwright and poet fascinated by Tudor history – so much so she was not surprised to discover a family connection to the Tudors, not long after the publication of her first Anne Boleyn novel narrating the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder. Her family tree reveals the intriguing fact that one of her ancestral families – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their own holdings. It seems likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.

Her second novel, The Light in the Labyrinth, set during final days of Anne Boleyn's life, revisits the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of her niece Catherine Carey. The Duty of Daughters and All Manner of Things tell the story of Katherine of Aragon. Shades of Yellow tells the story of a woman writing a novel about Amy Robsart.

All Dunn's award-winning works weave together the lyricism of poetry with the pulse of history, creating stories of love, loss, and the endurance of the human spirit.

Author Links:

Website: http://www.wendyjdunn.com/‍ ‍

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorwendyjdunn/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendyjdunnauthor/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@wendyjdunnauthor

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wendyjdunn.bsky.social

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/wendy-j-dunn

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wendyjdunn

Amazon Author Page: https://amazon.com/author/wendyjdunn

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/197156.Wendy_J_Dunn

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-wendy-dunn-6358181a/

Newsletter: https://wendyjdunn.substack.com/

Historical FictionBlog Tour

Rachel Elwiss Joyce

Rachel Elwiss Joyce, Author of Historical Fiction.

Exploring power, loyalty, and love in turbulent medieval England.

Rachel came to novel writing later in life, but she has always been passionate about history, storytelling, and the forgotten voices of women. She writes meticulously researched, immersive historical fiction that brings overlooked heroines into the light.

She started inventing tales about medieval women living in castles when she was just six years old—and never stopped. But when she discovered the extraordinary story of Nicola de la Haye, the first female sheriff, who defended Lincoln Castle from a French invasion and became known as ‘the woman who saved England’, Rachel knew she had found a heroine worth telling the world about.

Lady of Lincoln is her debut novel, the first book in her Nicola de la Haye Series, with sequels to follow.

https://rachelelwissjoyce.com