Introduction

The Living Infinite is based on the true story of the Spanish princess Eulalia, an outspoken firebrand at the Bourbon court during the troubled and decadent final years of her family's reign.

After her cloistered childhood at the Spanish court, her youth spent in exile, and a loveless marriage, Eulalia gladly departs Europe for the New World. In the company of Thomas Aragon, the son of her one-time wet nurse and a small-town bookseller with a thirst for adventure, she travels by ship first to a Cuba bubbling with revolutionary fervor then on to the 1893 Chicago World Fair. As far as others are concerned, she is there as an emissary of the Bourbon dynasty and a guest of the Fair. Secretly, she is in America to find a publisher for her scandalous, incendiary autobiography, a book that might well turn the old world order on its head.

Acevedo's new novel is an atmospheric and gripping tale of love, adventure, power and the quest to take control of one's destiny. Bourbon Spain, Revolutionary Cuba, and fin de siècle America are vividly rendered and Eulalia's personal rebellion will resonate with many readers.

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Excerpt

Su Alteza Isabel II, Reina de España, carried ten relics on her person during her last few weeks of pregnancy. These included the desiccated right arm of John the Baptist, which, wasted and ancient, resembled a piece of driftwood, and a rosary belonging to Saint Francis of Assisi that smelled of flowers at all times. No one could blame her for taking every possible precaution. Out of twelve deliveries, each ferocious and hard-fought, only five of Isabel’s children survived. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1) Discuss the title of the book, and the passage that it comes from (page 174). How does this title relate to Eulalia and Tomás?

2) Discuss the role that exile plays in Eulalia's life. What did it mean for her to go to Paris at a young age? How did that shape her?

3) The characters in the novel are all concerned with particular notions of destiny. Do they all achieve their destinies? If not, what keeps them from doing so?

4) Both Tomás and Eulalia are writers, so to speak. Why do they choose to express themselves in this way? What are the benefits? What are the drawbacks?

5) How does Eulalia's perspective on her book change over the course of the novel, and particularly at the end, and why?

6) How is motherhood described in this novel among the characters who have children? Is the view consistent among them?

7) Tomás and Eulalia travel to the World's Fair and experience the wonders of invention and the possibilities of a new world. If you could predict what their lives would be like after that experience, what might you say and why?

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