Title: The Name I Choose
Author: Holly Brough
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 9781669823681
Pages: 368
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewed by: Lily Amanda
Pacific Book Review
The Name I Choose is a genre-arching historical fiction novel by Holly Brough that follows Amalia, a young woman at a time when there were severe restrictions on the rights of Spanish women in a male-dominated society. When she is uprooted from her family at a young age to go work as a housekeeper in a cruel aristocratic family, Amalia’s life is thrown into a labyrinth of a series of turmoil experiences which she never would have fathomed.
Manual Tudo, the man who brought her to this household and seemingly has a hold over her life does not keep his eyes off her and his constant utterances scare her, but it is the future king of Spain’s advances that threaten to shatter her life when he abandons her pregnant and penniless. To save her life and that of her unborn child, Amalia flees to an island in the Balearic Sea but soon realizes it offers little comfort as her choices are still limited in yet again a highly patriarchal society. It is an unexpected person who offers to help her but Amalia’s turbulent experiences and inflicted wounds from vicious betrayal in her past threaten to stand in the way of this ray of hope.
19th-century Spain was characterized by repressive social structures, male dominance, and the subservience of women unquestionably. In this modern period, that may seem strange and incomprehensible, however author Holly Brough pens a magisterial ode that boasts of well-hewn characters, stirring imagery, and insistent prose. The main character, Amalia, is a true-to-life portrait of a courageous woman who embraced life in the face of abandonment and even death. Brough manages to render the inner life of a woman in medieval Spain with accuracy and immediacy in historical fiction.
Brilliantly researched and told at a swift pace, The Name I Choose is a deeply exposing epic of the true resilience of the human spirit. It manages to trace the harsh realities of oppression and abuse, interspersing this with the resounding and extraordinary potency of a flicker of humanity. All told, Holly Brough is a creative minstrel with total command of the craft. Lush, unnerving, and lyrical, this visceral triumph is certainly an award- winning landmark.
