A Delicate Marriage


Fiction - Historical - Event/Era
352 Pages
Reviewed on 07/11/2023
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    Book Review

Reviewed by Tracy Traynor for Readers' Favorite

A Delicate Marriage by Margarita Barresi is a classic work of historical fiction that belongs on the bookshelf alongside The Great Gatsby, Brideshead Revisited, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and many more. In Puerto Rico in 1935, we meet Isabela Soto—a spoiled socialite who wants to become an actress. Invited to read poetry one day at the university, she caught the eye of a top student, Marco Rios. They’re from different worlds, but when he sees her, Marco is determined to make Isabela fall in love with him. The story of their courtship and marriage is intermingled with the unrest happening around them. Can ideals become more than dreams? And if they do come true, will they change the dreamer?

Margarita Barresi does an amazing job of portraying real-life emotions. I loved watching these two young idealists change as they mature and how their reasons for embarking on this frowned-upon romance were rather self-serving. The ups and downs of life are beautifully expressed as various characters have changes in their circumstances, and so is how they lost sight of that dream when they shifted from poor to rich. But what Barresi did masterfully well in A Delicate Marriage was show us how they were not aware of it when they made that shift. The historical content of the book is outstanding. I loved walking through the 1930-1950s with Isabela and Marco, especially because of the setting, which showed the rich, poor, ugly, and beautiful sides of Puerto Rico—a place I’d now love to visit. Barresi’s flair for writing and storytelling made this a wonderful read.