The Lives of La Escondida

In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella, monarchs of Spain, set in motion earth-changing events: Columbus received his ships, the Moslem Moors were expelled from the realm followed shortly by the Jews, those who did not convert to Catholicism or pretend to. In the next twenty-five years, Spain began to colonize the lands Columbus claimed and Cortez brought down the Aztec Empire, creating New Spain in the New World. Eighty years after that, the conquest reached New Mexico.

There, Andorra Sandoval, da...