From Santa Maria with Love Paperback

I am so glad to have read this. I studied South America for A level many moons ago, but learnt more about Paraguay in this book than anything on offer back then.

For those like me who did not know what a ‘reduction’ was my Chambers dictionary explains it as ‘a settlement of S. American Indians converted by the Jesuits, and governed by them.’

Margaret Hebblethwaite left her job as assistant editor of The Tablet to go to live in ‘the poor and forgotten village of Santa Maria which had been, in the 17th and 18th centuries one of the Jesuit-Guarani reductions.’ This is the story of her life in her beloved adopted country, taken from pieces she wrote during the past ten years as a monthly column in The Tablet.

We come to know the stories of some of her neighbours, her experience of trying to build a house as a replica of those built during the reductions, some of the background history of Paraguay both religious and political, but above all about the faith of a people who live in great poverty and yet who can come together and celebrate with great joy and abandonment.

The author does not stand back and observe, she lives among the people and serves them constructively where she can. Part of that help, is making known to the outside world, what Paraguay can offer in terms of tourism, (she has built a hotel,) what treasures of ancient art are there, preserved in original mission churches and in museums, and what ancient crafts are still being practised today as the country becomes a more modern state.

A rewarding, enjoyable yet challenging read. Highly recommended.