Where the Library Hides

Content Warning: This section includes discussion of racism and gender discrimination.

Isabel Ibañez explores power in colonial, political, personal, and romantic dimensions through the illicit trade of antiquities, the manipulation of authority figures, and the gendered power structures in relationships. The clearest form of power in the novel is knowledge: Those who possess it can control it and use it to manipulate others. The search for the Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra is the ultimate pursuit of power: Lourdes and Cayo both hunt for it because of its potential to grant immense wealth and influence. Cayo represents the dark underbelly of power, using coercion and brute force to achieve his goals. His belief that “[e]veryone has a price” (181) summarizes his transactional view of power.

In addition, the novel examines colonial power, specifically European control over Egypt’s antiquities. Cayo’s cover identity, “Basil Sterling,” is a member of the British Antiquities Service, and the real historical figures Monsieur Maspero and Sir Evelyn serve as institutional gatekeepers, deciding who has access to discoveries and how they’re disseminated. Abdullah, an Egyptian archaeologist on the team, is Ricardo’s brother-in-law and represents the local resistance against the appropriation of Egyptian heritage. His dismay at Lourdes’s deal with the British at the novel’s end is a critique of how justice rarely wins out when colonialism is involved.

The power dynamics of gender likewise play a role given that the book is set in the 1880s, when women had significantly fewer rights than they do in Western society in the present day. As a woman during this period in a male-dominated field, Inez continuously struggles to assert her authority. A struggle for dominance and control deeply entangles the romantic subplot between Inez and Whit, especially in the early chapters. Her choice to marry at all already establishes an uneven foundation of power since control only transfers from Ricardo to Whit. Inez reflects, “I would have gone straight to the bank to withdraw money, but I couldn’t without Whit—my husband now had total control over my inheritance as permitted by law” (72). Rather than providing security, marriage was often a means of disempowerment. While their relationship later centers on trust and vulnerability, the power imbalance still exists by virtue of law and gender.

Many of the characters seem to possess power, but it’s frequently temporary, and they often become vulnerable. Despite Lourdes’s cunning and ability to manipulate others, she becomes a fugitive, loses her lover and daughter, and loses her freedom when she’s placed under house arrest. Ricardo, initially the most authoritative figure in Inez’s life, grows weak due to injuries he sustained in the first novel, and Inez, increasingly defiant, outmaneuvers him. Even Whit, who embodies masculine strength, becomes powerless in the face of social and familial obligations.

Inez’s journey is one of reclaiming power over her life. Her father’s control, her mother’s betrayals, and the societal structures she navigates hinder her self-determination. However, in the end, she finds a way to assert herself and her desire over the warring factions that seek to claim her. As shown through her story and those of the people around her, true strength comes not from dominance but from the ability to reclaim one’s own story. Where the Library Hides critiques traditional structures of control regarding colonialist appropriation and patriarchal manipulation, and in doing so, the novel champions autonomy and ethical stewardship.