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My wife, Ursula, and I were always motivated and finally decided to collaborate on a historical romantic novel inspired by my family history. The idea took root in the 70’s when we moved from California and lived in Mexico briefly and subsequently traveled throughout Spain, Europe, and the American continent. She has always been fascinated by the Hispanic culture and the Old World’s contribution to the New – the birth of New Spain, Mexico, California, and their gift to the United States. 

Our guide is the historical novel which bring into light the human drama of the past as lived by persons in that era. We seek to replicate real life episodes of triumph and tragedy, love and hate, revenge and atonement, prejudice and tolerance, justice, and oppression – the virtues and frailties of mankind. But most of all we seek to highlight the power of love and man’s quest for human dignity, for self-realization – the brotherhood of man – the discovery of the Divinity within the inner self. 

Ursula’s principal contributions are the psyche and personality of the main female characters. The dominant male actors are my responsibility. As in all novels, this is a work of fiction. Although inspired by a family history and historical events, the story is the product of our imagination and interpretation. Any resemblance to the characters in our story is purely coincidental. A dear friend, a scholar of history, who favored us by reading a draft of the manuscript, in his critique noted: “The novel is replete with accuracies and inaccuracies … not unlike most historical revisions.” That says it all. However, in apologia sua, we tried our best to be faithful and accurate to historical events. Our endless research is testimony to our endeavor.

We regret the inaccuracies and are gratified by the accuracies. We recommend to our readers, however, that they concentrate on the love and romance of our characters as they interact in the historical environment and make allowance for the license we have taken in our interpretation of history. We will have succeeded in our undertaking for sharing our magnum opus, if our readers enjoy and benefit from our story, even if it is at a small fraction of the delight which accompanied the gratification we experienced.
 

Marco & Noelle – A Hispanic American Odyssey, is a romantic novel in a historical setting, from Spain to the New World, wherein Sal and Ursula chronicle the adventures of Marco, Noelle and their lifelong friends and students in the Spanish Royal Guard, as they sail to Mexico and settle in Alta California. In 1800, they usher the new centennial in a Spanish galleon transporting young ladies awaited by Spanish criollos in New Spain . Aboard ship two romances flourish; one a forbidden liaison; the second the liaison between a Gypsy and a nobleman (Hidalgo). They live through the Mexican revolution for independence, the political intrigue and fall of the Spanish Viceroy. They witness the emergence of the Mexican republic and the loss of half of its territory to the United States . They become the last of the Californios as they take their place in the new American society into the middle of the 19th Century.

Through it all, Marco, a Spanish nobleman, and Noelle, a French aristocrat, Carlos and Marilia, his Gypsy bride, Eduardo and Isabella, his forbidden love, their children and circle of friends, face violence, revolution, hand to hand combat, intrigue, betrayal, discrimination and the challenges of an immoral society exploiting the African and the Native American through the institutions of slavery and peonage, engaged in genocide and ethnic cleansing. Marco is a Free Mason and a product of the Age of Enlightenment. He is influenced by the Literati and in particular by his mentor, Don Esteban, and his new friend in the New World , Lorenzo de Zavala. He is an admirer of Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson and Frederick Douglass, the emancipated slave. He forges a strategic business and family alliance with a prominent Jewish family in New York . Together they amass a fortune which enables them to combat discrimination, bigotry and the abuse and mistreatment of minorities - the evil forces of the age.

Inspired by the author’s Osio-Morphy family history, Marco & Noelle is first and foremost a love story that embraces the dramatis personae in an eternal love that anchors their credo – the brotherhood of man.