Join Duchess Katie & Lady Sadie this week as they cover a highly anticipated romance from one of C&C's favorite authors!

I will say that this is one of the densest books we have covered since we restarted C and C. All the Las Leonas feature some pretty intense moments and topics, and all take place during or right after The Exposition Universelle of 1889 better known as the 1889 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 6 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fifth of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more than thirty-two million visitors. The most famous structure created for the exposition, and still remaining, is the Eiffel Tower.

This Leona specifically is a medical doctor who predominantly treats women, and tries to advocate for and support women who are disenfranchised, women who have recently immigrated or women who have no one to be their champion. She also provides abortions which have always been a form of healthcare. This does of course put Aurora in places that are dangerous and puts her in the cross hairs of those that would prevent those with uteruses from receiving the healthcare they required. A lot of this is actually based on documented groups that ran safe abortion clinics through the end of the 1960s. Though it isn’t unlikely that similar things existed earlier in history.

Adriana also touches on some truly horrifying and bananas history that is feeling a little too real in 2025. Such as hymenology - yeah… that is a real thing…

I also want to give a shoutout to Unsuccessful Book Club and The Naptime Reader on instagram - because they created an awesome historical reference post for this whole series and I will post those in our story when this episode comes out.

Sources:

La Tour Eiffel

Project Muse: Ambivalent Argentina Nationalism, Exoticism, and Latin Americanism at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition Alvaro Fernández Bravo

Modern Latin American Art - Latin American Countries Represented at World’s Fairs and other Exhibitions

Intro Music: Musopen; Violin Concerto in F major, RV 293 'Autumn' - III. Allegro https://musopen.org/music/14910-the-four-seasons-op-8/