A Library Journal Best Book of 2009
“A stunning achievement, an inspired novel that steers clear of boring history lessons and instead zeroes in on the smallest epicenter—Principe Agustin de Iturbide y Green—to spiral out into a wondrous period, 1860s Mexico, a time of political possibility and unrest in which “persons who do not appear to share even a footprint’s worth of common ground turn out to have destinies bound together in painful knots.”—El Paso Times
[A] rich historical novel… Political ambitions, the intrigues of the imperial court, and the relationship between countries at the height of European colonization all the drive the intricate plot of the novel, taking us on a dizzying journey from Washington to Veracruz to Paris and back to Mexico and the U.S…. The evocative descriptions and ironic commentary on the relationship between cultures make this an enjoyable and important novel, particularly relevant for these times.
Literal: Latin American Voices
It is a hefty, sprawling work, more than 400 pages long, but at no point does it begin to sag under its own weight. Perhaps because its spread is solidly supported by facts, Mayo’s intricate plot trips along at a natural, inexorable pace, easily traveling the sweeping map she has laid out for it, from Washington to Mexico City and all the way to the imperial halls of Europe… a swashbuckling, riotous good time, befitting the fairy-tale promise of the opening sentence.
Austin American-Statesman
Mayo
Library Journal (Xpress Review)
Based on actual events, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire tells the tale of two-year old Agustin de Iturbide y Green, a little boy of an American mother and Mexican Father who is
Sherri Gallentine Vroman
C. M. MAYO
THE LAST PRINCE OF THE MEXICAN EMPIRE
The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire is a sweeping historical novel of Mexico during the short, tragic, at times surreal, reign of Emperor Maximilian and his court. Even as the American Civil War raged north of the border, a clique of Mexican conservative exiles and clergy convinced Louis Napoleon to invade Mexico and install the Archduke of Austria, Maximilian von Habsburg, as Emperor. A year later, the childless Maximilian took custody of the two year old, half-American, Prince Agustìn de Iturbide y Green, making the toddler the Heir Presumptive. Maximilian’s reluctance to return the child to his distraught parents, even as his empire began to fall, and the Empress Carlota descended into madness, ignited an international scandal. This lush, grand read is based on the true story and illuminates both the cultural roots of Mexico and the political development of the Americas. But it is made all the more captivating by the depth of Mayo’s writing and her understanding of the pressures and influences on these all too human players.
$26.95 US / $32.95 C | Fiction Hardcover | 6x9 | 448 pages
May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-932961-64-5 | Carton Quantity: 16
On the first Sunday of August, after the mass in Do
C. M. Mayo has been living in and writing about Mexico for many years. Her story collection, Sky Over El Nido, won the Flannery O
