17 Sep / Señora Honeycomb by Fanny Buitrago, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden
Little orphan Teodora promises her dying godmother to look after her worthless bed-hopping son. Raised Cinderella-style in a small village in Colombia, Teodora willingly enslaves herself to ensure handsome but immoral Galaor’s every comfort, and not surprisingly falls madly in love with him. ‘Love is blind,’ is no understatement here!
Teodora – and the rest of the town – soon enough learn that she is actually the wealthy heir, but Galaor’s uncontrollable appetites have already drastically diminished her fortune. Fearing the loss of the hand that feeds him, Galaor quickly marries his pot of gold. But with coffers depleting so quickly, Teodora’s only choice is to finally agree to work for the amorous Dr. Amiel, who has set up a wildly successful catering business in Madrid that creates anatomically correct, highly edible, even aphrodisiacal fare.
After three years under Dr. Amiel’s titillating tutelage, Teodora decides the time is right to return home and surprise her beloved husband. Will she finally find true love …?
In my ongoing search for a contemporary, savvy, strong Colombian woman writer (all suggestions encouraged and welcome!), Fanny Buitrago is definitely not it. Nor is her naive (stupid?), innocent (myopic?), devoted (slavish?) protagonist even vaguely a feminist hero. Buitrago’s only novel available in English translation thus far is, at best, campy erotica disguised as a misguided literary treatise of sexual awakening. Truly, Kate Chopin this ain’t!
Readers: Adult
Published: 1996 (United States)