The Divine Husband follows Maria de las Nieves Moran on her journey from closeted girlhood in a riotous convent to social, sexual and intellectual emancipation in the giddy city of New York. Her life is told through a series of unforgettable characters who strive, just as she does, for love and success in late-nineteenth century America, both North and South: Jose Marti, poet and hero of Cuban independence; Mack Chinchilla, entrepreneur and idealist; and a stifled English Diplomat all become enthralled by the charismatic Maria, and, perhaps, conspire in her downfall as she gives birth to a daughter that one of them may have fathered. This is a novel of great beauty and wisdom, filled with disarming Indian girls, wandering Jewish coffee farmers, eccentric shaman priests, and the founder of the rubber-balloon industry - a nocturnal prophylactic producer. Francisco Goldman has written a novel of great humanity and heart that will be a literary event.