Doña Marcelina Trujillo Benidorm

Doña Marcelina Trujillo Benidorm is the protagonist of the story. She is born into an aristocratic, Catholic, Spanish home, the daughter of Trujillo Benidorm and a female servant of the family. Her servant mother is sent away from the family home when Marcelina is nine years old, but Marcelina has to stay behind. Four years later Marcelina goes in search of her mother and finds her near the town of Alhambra. Marcelina then begins a long apprenticeship to become a curandera, or traditional healer. She has three teachers: her mother; a man named El Gran Echbo, whom she meets in Veracruz, Mexico; and María Sabina, a woman who is known for her healing abilities. When her apprenticeship is over, Marcelina travels with María Sabina to Mexico City, and then quickly travels north. As she goes north she...