The She-Apostle: The Extraordinary Life and Death of Luisa de Carvajal

Here is the full-length biography of Luisa de Carvajal (1568-1614), possibly the first female missionary of modern times. Born into a great Spanish family, Luisa suffered an abusive childhood, dreamt of martyrdom for the Catholic Church and smuggled herself into England in the year of the Gunpowder Plot. The book explores her courageous intrigues on behalf of the Catholic cause in Protestant England, from distributing banned books to preserving and distributing the bodily remains of executed priests. She risked imprisonment and execution for these activities, a fate she miraculously managed to avoid in spite of being arrested on a number of occasions. This vividly written biography, the first to give equal treatment to her double life in Spain and England, is based on Luisa's own autobiographical writings, her sparkling collection of poems and letters, and the detailed reminiscences by dozens of people who worked with her. The book contains Luisa's biting—and often humorous—descriptions of the cost of living in Shakespeare's London, the poor quality of food in the capital, as well as the weekend rowdiness of the English.