Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World

by Catalina de Erauso, translated by Michele and Gabriel Stepto

A fun and wholly unbelievable true story. The hook for me was the idea of a young woman escaping the convent to experience the world dressed as a man in the early 1600s. This included lots of card playing, violence, thievery, and flirtations, but also a fair bit of suffering as she would lose as much as she gained during her travels.

Erauso, to be sure, was not transgender. She cross-dressed to be free from the confinement of a nun-or-wife path all women were presented with in Basque at the time. It seemed what she wanted to do more than anything was pick fights and kill the natives in South America, so I don't know if most people would find her particularly inspirational. What is commendable is her persistence, self-confidence, love of her country, a sense of fairness (though certainly a little warped), and love of her family (though she had to detach herself from them emotionally to get by).

There is also a chance, and one may never know for sure, that she made most of this story up. From page to page I kept thinking "How is she winning every fight, killing people left and right, surviving freezing temperatures and being lost at sea while everyone around her perished? Is she Batman? Or Basqueman maybe?" I kind of got the Brienne of Tarth vibe from her, for those familiar with Game of Thrones; she could pretty much kick anyone's ass at any time. But then to also have everyone throwing their daughters at her to marry, dignitaries giving her honors, businessmen allowing her to run their businesses, and eventually the Pope to be like "You're forgiven for everything, Catalina, but try not to kill anymore," it seems like too tall of a tale to be taken as truth.

But it could all be true. There's enough there to suggest as much. The badassery of this lady, to go about her business not just as a dude but as a hero AND villain of the highest order, and come out of the whole thing with a happy ending, just goes to show what one can do when you really put your mind to it.

So yes, whether it's true or not or somewhere in between, I recommend this read. The Stepto's translation is fine and carries over a lot of the humor and humanity of the author, and it's a very fast read at just 80 pages of action and adventure. I would completely skip the forward and the introduction, though, as they both are a complete waste of time. Why have mid-90's pre-woke professors telling you how you should think and feel about a 17th century legend when you could just read her own words yourself?