Gathering the Indigo Maidens
Cecilia Vel�egui
9780983745815
pages
Libros Publishing LLC
Overview
Modern-day human traffickers and art thieves extort a wealthy Laguna Beach, California, art collector, Paloma Zubiondo, by offering to release a young Ecuadorian sex slave in exchange for one of Paloma's treasured seventeenth-century Spanish Colonial paintings, purportedly a stolen painting of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. An epic tale of interwoven narratives that connects art theft and sex trafficking to the palpable triumphs and pathos of three historical indigo maidens: artist, Isabel Santiago from 1699 Ecuador; printing heiress, Maria de Rivera Calderon y Benavides from 1754 Mexico City; and social activist sentenced to San Quentin prison, Modesta Avila from 1889 San Juan Capistrano.
Author Bio
Cecilia Velástegui was born in Quito, Ecuador, where she spent her childhood. She was raised in California and France, and has traveled extensively in over fifty countries. She received her graduate degree from the University of Southern California, and speaks four languages. She serves on the board of directors of several cultural and educational institutions. She lives with her family in Monarch Beach, California.
