Protagonist Eliza (Ella) Lynch is an Irishwoman living in Paris in 1854 when she meets and becomes the mistress of Francisco (Franco) Solano López. She and Franco travel by sea to his homeland in Paraguay, where he eventually becomes dictator, and leads the country into war with neighboring Brazil and Argentina. The book follows her privileged existence, motherhood, and how her life is impacted by Franco’s warmongering.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the positive side, I feel I learned a great deal about Paraguay of the 1850s-1870s. The two main characters are believable. The descriptions of the local flora and fauna are vividly portrayed. On the negative side, there are just too many people in this book, and it is almost impossible to keep track of them all. It flits from one scene to another rather abruptly, so it does not have a pleasing flow. It recounts history in the form of “this happened and then that happened” rather than weaving the events together into a more entertaining story.

Ella and Franco were real people, but the author emphasizes that this is a work of historical fiction. It is based upon facts, but a substantial amount is imagined. I can say I liked it and I am glad to have read it, but I am also rather glad to be finished. I will seek out more reading material about Paraguay, as it has a rich history of which I was previously unaware.
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I must have picked up this book at a Friends of the Library book sale long ago (probably on the final sale day, "fill a box for five dollars"), solely because of the "National Book Award Winner" sticker on the cover. It won that prize for fiction in 2004. Frankly, I don't really see why. It's historical fiction, partly about Francisco Solano Lopez, the president/dictator of Paraguay 1862-1870 (called Franco in the book), but more about his mistress Eliza Lynch (called Ella in the book).
While there were a number of interesting anecdotes about minor characters in the book, I finished it feeling like I really didn't learn much about Ella, Franco, or Paraguay. Very disappointing. ( )

Okay, first I will confess: I usually don't go for historical fiction, so this had a less than great chance with me. But I was not familiar with this period of South American history, so that worked build my interest. I was never going to be attracted in any way to Franco Lopez, however, I had hopes for Ella Lynch as I found some aspects of her character admirable and her overall life story intriguing. I enjoyed Lily Tuck's prose; she brought a new part of the world to life for me (I would like to visit and see for myself). This story of an Irish girl who brought culture to Paraguay had potential, but for me the story moved too slowly and the flaws in Ella's character, while making her more real, left me with little to really pull me in. ( )

I think I read this in large measure because it was an award winner, and at the time, a few people were talking about it. That it dealt with a historical figure in Latin America also caught my eye. In my journal back then I wrote:

>>. . .a historical novel about Paraguayan dictator 19th century dictator Francisco Solano Lopez and his Irish mistress Ella Lynch. The novel does present history in a dramatic way, good narrative, even if it borders a bit on "chick lit" (it is mostly from Ella's view, but not all). Francisco basically ruins the country in a war against other South American nations. Overall, it is a book I would recommend to those who like historical fiction. I borrowed this from the library I used to work at. ( )

This is a historical novel about the very real person of Eliza Lynch, Irish courtesan, and how Franco Solano, the future dictator of Paraguay, met her in Paris and brought her back to Paraguay with him, along with all of the other items he'd purchased. Ella, stuck after her last relationship ends, is willing to become attached to this short, hairy South American, and to go back to his home country with him. He can't marry her, and she's viewed with distain by his family, but Ella nonetheless carves out a successful life for herself, raising Franco's children and being the center of Paraguayan social life. And then Franco declares war on pretty much everyone, leading to the disastrous Paraguayan War.

Tuck sticks to the historical record in this book, pulling excerpts from the letters and diaries of the many British and American professionals drawn to adventure and profit in Paraguay at that time. This lends it an authenticity, but means that there's less of a sense of who Ella was as a person instead of an historical figure. Ella Lynch led such an unusual life that just reciting the facts of her life make for fascinating reading, but I would have liked at least an imaginary attempt to get inside of her head. ( )