The Hacienda: A Memoir

This is a fascinating memoir by Lisa St Aubin deTeran of six or seven years while she was living on a Hacienda in Venezuela. She was only 17 years of age when she married Jaime Teran and moved to the Venezuelan Andes. Jaime, it turns out, is unpredictable and unreliable. He is hardly there and when he is he is often violent. Lisa writes about this in her own style that is not packed with drama but more full of the every day details of life on the hacienda. She is left to run the whole estate and with no support from her husband and only limited support from his parents she leans on la gente, the workers on the hacienda. I was gripped as she wrote about having a baby, against the odds, her mother's visits, being ill, the noise and show more activity of the sugar cane production, the loyal but dangerous turkey and her friends. There is plenty of loneliness here but she doesn't dwell on it and the book is all the more powerful for that. A marvellous and illuminating read of life in a rural corner of Venezuela in the 1970s. show less

"When he returned, I was reminded of Jane Eyre"
By sally tarbox on 23 August 2016
Format: Paperback
Fascinating memoir of the author's life from 17 to 24 after she married a mysterious Venezuelan - a local aristocrat, owner of a large sugar plantation, but also a wanted man and one who proved to be deranged. "I had decided to do it (marry him) in a public-spirited way; it seemed to mean a lot to him and it didn't mean much to me."

Abandoned by her husband for much of the time, and disapproved of by his wealthy relations, she came to rely much on the 'gente' or people of the estate. Dogged by illness, natural disasters and the challenge of a new baby, the author also tells of the landscape, the animals, her visits from her English show more mother...
Perhaps the weak point is that we don't really get a feel of her emotions. How was it to be a teenager in the Andes, alone and with such a husband? At times it put me in mind a little of Barbara Comyns' style of writing.
But very enjoyable read.
Includes b/w photos show less

Autobiografie van Lisa St. Aubin de Téran, die op 16-jarige leeftijd op straat in London de Zuid-Amerikaanse aristocraat Don Jaime Téran tegenkwam en met hem trouwde. Grootste deel van de roman speelt zich af op het familielandgoed van haar echtgenoot diep in de Venezolaanse Andes.