A bestseller in Spanish, this is the story of an extraordinary Mexican woman whose life was as passionate and conflicted as Mexico itself. She defied tradition and class to bring changes to her country, but the fraudulent election of 1929 led to her suicide.
Kathryn Skidmore Blair was born in Cuba in 1920. She moved to Mexico with her American parents when she was three, and Mexico has been her home base ever since.
Her father was the Manager of an international graphic arts firm, and says she grew up with two strong aromas : ink and tacos. Being bilingual and bicultural has opened doors all her life. Being sent to school in California at fifteen was a real culture shock. To Americans, Mexico was border towns, half-naked children and tequila. Kathryn´s Mexico was a city of volcanoes and pyramids, a castle, an Opera house, lavish gardens and school-mates from all over the world.
A recent graduate of UCLA when Pearl Harbor was attacked, Kathryn remained in Los Angeles during the war. She worked at NBC in Hollywood for Nelson Rockefeller´s Office of Interamerican Affairs, creating Spanish language radio programs that aired in the U.S. and across Latin America.
Kathryn met Donald Antonio Blair Rivas Mercado and they were married in six months. The Blair´s formed a family of four children, two dogs, and a score of new Mexican and American relatives.
Kathryn, who had dreamed of writing a book about Mexico, was intrigued with stories about Don´s grandfather, the architect of Mexico´s Independence Monument, known to all as the "Angel". When she discovered that her husband´s -mother, Antonieta Rivas Mercado, had committed suicide in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, a scandal hushed by the family for thirty years, she found her heroine.
Thus began twenty years of researching Antonieta´s life. Brilliant and independent, defender of women´s rights, heiress to a fortune, she became the center of a post-revolutionary group of young writers, painters, poets, musicians and playwrights eager to join the modern world. Today, Kathryn´s book has triggered official recognition of Antonieta´s efforts to promote Mexico´s modern culture.
Felipe Calderón, the President of Mexico, called her "our national Angel".
"In the Shadow of the Angel" is Kathryn´s first book. Published in Spanish in 1995, it is now considered a classic, and has sold over 200,000 copies.
Her newest book, "Forging a Nation, the Story of Mexico from the Aztecs to the Present" has just reached the bookstores and is available in Amazon & Kindle.
Kathryn says that at age 91, her brain and knees still work, and she hopes to continue writing.
