Zorro
Isabel Allende, 2005
HarperCollins
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780060779009
Summary
Swashbuckling adventure story that reveals for the first time how Diego de la Vega became the masked man we all know so well.
Born in southern California late in the 18th century, he is a child of two worlds. Diego de la Vega's father is an aristocratic Spanish military man turned landowner; his mother, a Shoshone warrior. Diego learns from his maternal grandmother the ways of her tribe while receiving from his father lessons in the art of fencing. It is here, during Diego's childhood, that he witnesses the brutal injustices dealt Native Americans and first feels the inner conflict of his heritage.
Sent to Barcelona for a European education, Diego joins "La Justicia," a secret underground resistance movement devoted to helping the powerless and the poor.
Between California and Barcelona, the persona of Zorro is formed, a great hero is born and the legend begins. After many adventures, Diego de la Vega, a.k.a. Zorro, returns to America to reclaim the hacienda on which he was raised and to seek justice for all who cannot fight for it themselves. (From the publisher.)