Publisher's Synopsis
This novel is fun and entertains, but at the same time it teaches general culture and history. "The gypsy devil" takes you to dates back to in the 18th century in the northern New Spain, with a fiction that uses reality to create a credible atmosphere. From the beginning, the plot points to murders linked to witchcraft which are investigated by the Holy Inquisition. The story is associated to a group of gypsies and a bureaucrat who is the main character, who is involved in dark criminal circumstances that accuse gypsy women.
The arrival of the gypsies in America occurs on a journey with pirates, who have a twisted sense of loyalty and honor, but who respect the courage and way of fighting of the gypsies, who are famous for fighting hand-to-hand with knives At that time, the pirates had an unwritten code that allowed them to make long voyages and avoid mutinies with sadistic and ingenious punishments, but the most difficult thing for a pirate ship was to sail with hundreds of rats for months, which caused illnesses. that killed those who boarded those boats. In the New Spain, the gypsies, who are nomadic by nature, traveled north where they suffered multiple misadventures, facing highwaymen and cursed beings of the night; but the worst misfortune was that without being guilty they suffered the persecution and torture of the Inquisition. At that time, murders in small northern towns increased, all of them revealed diabolical or witchcraft circumstances that terrified the population, which is why a Special Commissary of the Holy Office of the Inquisition was appointed to put an end to the devil in that region. By chance of fate, the Villa de Monclova Notary Public is rescued by several gypsy women. Despite being a man with conservative values, he is seduced by the feminine charm that breaks his preconceived ideas of morality. From that moment on, he will protect them with cunning actions to evade the authorities on the one hand, and the devil on the other. Actually, the hidden story in the novel is represented by the myth of Lilith: the woman as man's downfall, the devil made woman. Lilith is a female demon predecessor of Eve, she has been excluded from celestial glory due to her sexual promiscuity with Lucifer and inferior demons. While gypsy women are the representation of desire, but not of evil; the protagonist is a kind of Adam who acts in full control of his acts and desires, induced to act with carnal vehemence but tinged with loving emotion. The curtain rises when, in the midst of a meticulous inquisitorial torture procedure, the devil shows up to rescue a real witch who implored his help, and the antagonist is once again a woman. Lilith is an entity that is male and female. Lilith is androgynous, she is a woman, but with the ability to become a man, why not her? She is the antithesis of God. The idea that is sent to the reader is clear, the devil has no sex. The devil shows his cards, favoring a slave by taking her with him, always waiting for a better moment to transform humans into animals of the night, thirsty for blood and rotting meat. Between the cursed beings and the incompetent authorities, the Notary and his gypsies will form a secret group dedicated to preparing to persecute and destroy anyone who becomes a slave to the devil's murderous bloodlust. Awards of "the gypsy devil" Winner of the Rosario Castellanos National short novel award; Honorable Mention as a novel fragment in the starting point award, and Honorable Mention in the Creatures of the Night award.
