This is an historical novel about the conquest of Mexico for Spain by Hernan Cortes. "Malinche" is the nickname of the Indian slave girl who was mistress and translator to Cortes and who explained to him the religion and politics of the Aztec empire, allowing him to conquer a vast civilization with a ridiculously small army.

I've been interested in the story of "La Malinche" ever since I was a young man and I heard an amazing song called "Maldicion de la Malinche" (The Curse of the Malinche) by the late Mexican folksinger Amparo Ochoa. What little is known of the real Malinche is fascinating, but this novel adds very little to it, and Esquivel's reflections on Mexican history are predictable. The writing style is stilted and laden with cliches. Malinche's Indian beliefs are trivialized with a treacly New-Age interpretation, and the obligatory sex scenes are handlled so clumsily as to be embarrassing.