The Accidental Heretic
In the 18th century, Europe is in the throes of the Enlightenment, but in Spain the Inquisition still holds sway, and it fears the application of human reason more than injustice. O’Neill’s story opens in 1756. Don Antonio Albrono, a handsome, clever and well-educated but impoverished nobleman, has enlisted with the Spanish military. In Valencia, he uses a clever magic trick to help his unit’s sergeant unmask a thief. Unfortunately for him, he is reported to the Spanish Inquisition and falls into the hands of a powerful secret enemy who has set his sights on him ever since he had the temerity to fall in love with Luisa Navas, the man’s niece.
Albrono enters the inquisition prison, where O’Neill explores the horror of an inquisitorial incarceration in agonizing detail. Meanwhile she interweaves the story of how and why Albrono, a Genoese, came to Spain, how he met Luisa, and how he incurred the vicious enmity of this evil man.
Based on the transcript of a Spanish Inquisition trial from 1756, the author crafts a compelling story of great nobility, horrific cruelty, profound love, and chilling bureaucratic indifference. The characters are deeply human, the plotting brilliant. From the opening pages the narrative moves forward with inexorable force, the tension ratchets up like a torturer tightening the rack. The pace never slackens, driving the reader relentlessly toward a conclusion that is, perhaps, as bitter as it is sweet. Throughout, the writing is vivid. Unforgettable.
