Review of The Ladies of Managua

For those of my students and anyone else who read my book History of Nicaragua (2010) or has taken my class on Latin American Politics, this may be of interest to you. I finished reading a novel a couple of weeks ago entitled The Ladies of Managua by Eleni N. Gage. It is the story of the complex relationship between a grandmother (Isabela) from an elite family in Granada, a daughter (Ninexin) who was a Sandinista revolutionary and is an important official in the Ortega government, and the granddaughter (Maria) who grew up in the US and was raised primarily by the Grandmother. The three come together in Manauga at the funeral of the grandfather. It is a wonderful story about strong women and their interrelationships set in the backdrop of Nicaragua under the Ortega government and the wonderful country of Nicaragua that I was fortunate to visit and explore, meet some of its people, and write about.