In her new novel and after the success of her saga “The Uprooted”, Catherine Bardon recounts today the overwhelming fate of Flor de Oro Trujillo, the daughter of one of the most sinister dictators in the Caribbean, Rafael Trujillo.
At the end of the book, we see his tomb in a photo. A grave overgrown with weeds. It is, however, that of a flower. Because her name was Fleur. “Flor de Oro”, a first name chosen by his father, nicknamed the Ogre of the Caribbean, his real name Rafael Trujillo, who reigned supreme over the Dominican Republic.
A domestic tyrant too, especially vis-à-vis his daughter, whom he kept under his thumb all his life. All her life, she dreamed of love and freedom. In love, she was, no doubt too much – she was even married 9 times – accumulating toxic and short-lived affairs. Free, she was so only in short episodes, abused by the intrigues of her father or her half-brothers, by her fickle, violent or manipulative husbands, and by her unfortunate choices.
She made mistakes, Flor de Oro, she hoped for a lot before falling from a height, getting up and falling again. The unfortunate fate of a poor little rich girl who is terribly dependent on the men around her, in a world of excess of all kinds.
A terribly romantic adventure that tells us Catherine Bardon in an addictive book, full of tasty episodes. “La fille de l’Ogre” was published by Les Escales.
Reportage : Marjorie Bertin went to Montpellier, in the south of France, for the 1er weekend of Arabesque festival, the largest European festival dedicated to the arts of the Arab world. A 17th edition that could be called “Once upon a time the oud”.