A local book club is beginning a new chapter in its five-year history. The Barter’s Island Bookies will host Puerto Rican author and former actress Esmerelda Santiago, who will speak about her 2011 novel “Conquistadora” on Friday, July 28 during the club’s monthly meeting.

The Bookies have 15 members and have discussed various selections each month, but this is the first time an author has joined them. The club invited Santiago based on member Betty Torrance’s recommendation. Torrance is a  summer resident and Pace University professor.  She invited Santiago to speak at the New York City liberal arts college numerous times about cultural diversity.

“She spoke at the university three or four times in the ’90s. At the time, there were many cultural changes and differences happening, and she was well-qualified in talking about them,” Torrance said. “She lives in New York City and is from Puerto Rico. So she also has an interesting perspective about the U.S. and Puerto Rican relationship.”

Last year, the Bookies selected “Conquistadora” as one of their 2017 Summer Book Club selections. Torrance contacted Santiago about being the club’s first guest speaker.

“Each member picks a book, so I recommended reading “Conquistadora” with the hope of inviting the author to come to Boothbay and speak,” Torrance said.

The novel is told from the feminine perspective of the Spanish invasion of the New World. The story unfolds in the middle of the 19th century as Puerto Ricans began acquiring an identity beyond that of Spanish colonial subjects. In a July 2011 New York Times book review, Santiago described the research involved in writing the novel. “Conquistadora” details  slave insurrections, a cholera epidemic and hurricanes, all based on her research. Santiago delved into Spain’s colonial past by traveling to Seville, Spain and Puerto Rico researching the subject.

“I wanted to write a big book with lots of characters, and I wanted to explore what it meant to be Puerto Rican,” Santiago told the New York Times.

Members will discuss the novel and Santiago will also answer members’ questions.