The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

Berkley, 2022

ISBN-13: ‎978-0593436691

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook. ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

The Hacienda is a gothic horror, haunted house novel set in 1823, two years after the Mexican Revolution, in rural Mexico, told in alternating viewpoints, with gorgeous prose.

Beatriz is the new second wife of a politically connected, wealthy plantation owner. She is alone in the crumbling hacienda, the owners’ house, while her husband remains in the city. Andres is a local boy with occult abilities and hedge witch magic that he has kept hidden, who has recently returned to the area after his ordination as a priest.

When Beatriz can’t get anyone on the estate to believe the house is haunted, she requests an exorcism, which is unsuccessful. Andres and Beatriz believe the spirit haunting the house is her husband’s first wife. It is dangerous enough that Beatriz is only comfortable there in the company of the priest. It’s like a creepy Encanto. Andres begins to believe the only way to release the spirit is for him to let his dark powers out. In the meantime, Beatriz’s husband’s sister decides to speed Beatriz ‘s demise along by setting the house on fire.

The author says she was inspired by du Maurier and Shirley Jackson and you can certainly see that– the beginning has a very Rebecca vibe, and the descriptions of the house and fire definitely were influenced by The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. The “forbidden romance” is gothic enough, but it didn’t seem relevant. It’s hard to root for a love affair with a priest sworn to celibacy.

Colonialism, racism, colorism, misogyny, patriarchy, and privilege all get attention, not in a didactic way, but through narration of the characters’ daily experiences. Beatriz’s obsession with keeping her skin light, the need for Andres to stay nearby to help with folk beliefs as well as Catholic rituals, the entitlement Beatriz’s husband felt in raping the girls on his estate… these and many other examples show that the possession of the house by a malicious spirit was far from the only horror on the estate.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski