Book Review: Lo! Jacaranda

Lo! Jacaranda

It is a wonderful tale, set in a lovely landscape: 18th century Spain. Amazing artwork.

At first, I thought it would be a good one for my oldest granddaughter, seeing as it was written by a Roman Catholic priest, but after reading the first section, I thought not! It was quite a heavy first chapter on natural childbirth, in the 1760s, in a cave! From there, our heroine, Jacaranda, lives a fantastic life, until the inevitable conflict occurs.

It includes the horrid Spanish Inquisition, and our Jacaranda could have been burned at the stake, as well. It is a very imaginative book, with lots of beautiful artwork, by the author,  Freiermuth.  There are longish pages of text, separated by two-page illustrations. It's a different sort of look for a book.

I've always had a fascination for the gypsy life, and utter contempt for those who still persecute the Roma. This has been coming up frequently in the news. Too much harm is done to those who cannot defend themselves.

Roman Catholic priest finds inspiration from Spanish Gypsy song

Reverend Harry Freiermuth writes, illustrates intriguing new novella

SAN JOSE, Calif. – In 1950, Reverend Harry Freiermuth was a young architectural draftsman living in Morocco and exploring the Spanish countryside during Holy Week when he came upon the Gypsy caves. 

Although the Gypsy population has historically been the pariah of Europe, Freiermuth wanted to write a book that would help all kinds of people use God’s grace to love one another.

“’Lo! Jacaranda’ presents the Spanish gypsies, Jews, pirates and native people of North America as human beings to be loved as brothers and sisters,” Freiermuth said. “It has characters just like us with our faults and our choices to love those of different cultures.”

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@Barrie Summy