I know and love Zoraida Córdova for her contributions to the YA urban fantasy genre, including the books in her Brooklyn Brujas series and her more recent anthology of YA vampire tales. But this year, Zoraida is back with something quite different! The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina, which came out just last week, is an adult fantasy novel that takes a very Gothic approach to exploring family and identity.
From her magic-infused home in the rural valley of Four Rivers, a grand matriarch named Orquídea Divinia Montoya sends out invitations to her own funeral, telling them “Come and collect your inheritance.” As the ragtag band of Montoya descendants reluctantly return to their ancestral home, they have no idea what to expect. Most haven’t been to the house in years and have been trying to bury their memories of the illogical and unexplainable things they experienced there. But when Orquídea undergoes an inexplicable transformation before their very eyes, they can no longer deny that magic runs through the Montoya veins. If only Orquídea could have given them some answers and explanations before she left them alone to sort out her legacy. Marimar, one of Orquídea’s granddaughters, is particularly determined to find some answers—not only to broader questions about the family magic and possible family curse, but also to more personal questions about her father’s identity and her mother’s mysterious death. It seems that in order to answer any of these questions, Marimar and her cousins will need to dig into Orquídea’s mysterious past, starting by visiting her homeland in Guayaquil, Ecuador. As the dark secrets from Orquídea’s old life resurface, Marimar and her cousins realize that they never really knew their grandmother. Will they even be able to handle the answers that Orquídea tried to shelter them from?
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina employs a very Gothic conception of inheritance. On the surface level, inheritance can involve the (often contested) ownership of a physical estate—as we see in Gothic novels from The Castle of Otranto to The House of the Seven Gables. This question arises fairly early in the novel, as several of Orquídea’s descendants take her invitation literally and return to Four Rivers expecting to receive some material inheritance like the home in the valley. But in this novel, as in most Gothic works, the true inheritance is a less tangible legacy than a house or a plot of land. It is the family curse, the sins and mistakes of your forebears, the inherited traits that make it seem as if an ancestor lives again in you. As the title suggests, all of these are at the center of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina. Orquídea’s story does not end when someone inherits her house. Instead, this moment prompts her descendants to uncover what else they have inherited from her. The Montoyas find themselves pursued by Orquídea’s demons that she protected them from for so long. In order to be free, they must right the wrongs of Orquídea’s past. And in order to understand the new, strange magic they find growing in themselves, the family will need to get back in touch with their roots.
Another Gothic story element that this book plays around with is bargains. Orquídea doesn’t quite make a Faustian bargain (trading one’s soul to the devil for power or immortality), but she does make questionable deals with two different supernatural beings. One bargain works out fairly well for her, but the other one is the source of much of her family’s misfortunes. As readers of this genre will know, bargaining with supernatural beings is a dangerous game, and you often wind up paying a higher price than you intend too—especially if you aim too high or fail to fulfill your end of the deal. Even after Orquídea is gone, her descendants continue to suffer the ramifications of her bargain.
Interested in reading The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina for yourselves? You can find it on shelves now at your favorite local retailer. Or order it online and support The Gothic Library in the process using this Bookshop.org affiliate link. Once you’ve read it, be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments!