Laura Resau, with the help of María Virginia Farinango, tells the true story of seven year old Virginia, who is taken from her poor, indigenous family to work for a mestizo family, in The Queen of Water. In the novel, Virginia tells her story of growing up with this new family and her defiance against them, mainly the Doctorita but also Niño Carlitos. Virginia is able to break most, if not all, of the rules given to her by the Doctorita while she is there. After a few failed attempts, Virginia is able to escape from the horrid household of the Doctorita and Niño Carlitos as a young woman, about 15 years old, with the help of the sister, Matilde. When she is back with her family, she is barely able to communicate with her parents because of the language barrier that has formed over the years. When she is home, Virginia tells her father that instead of working in the fields with the rest of her family, she would like to attend school. At school, Virginia is at the top of her class, which is a few years younger than her, and is able to attend República de Ecuador, the school of her dreams, the next year. At her new school, Virginia needs money to pay for both school and school supplies, so she and her friend Carmen both get jobs working at a local hotel.
The Queen of Water is enjoyable to read because of all the little cliffhangers between chapters that keep you turning the pages. Also, because it is a fairly easy read, it does not take forever to read it. It is amazing to think that Virginia went through all that is in the novel in her childhood, if you can even call it that, and her young adult years. You can truly feel her rage towards the Doctorita sometimes, and her love toward her family and friends. You can also feel her pain and loss from being away from her family all those years, and how awkward she is readjusting back into a variation of her old life. Virginia says she feels like she has lived many lives instead of just the one life because of how different they were, and it is true: from an almost carefree child, to an unpaid maid-servant, to a teenage student with a part-time job, there are not many similarities between these lives.