Woman of Light

Maria Josie (Josefina) is the multiracial second daughter of Pidre and Simodecea, and younger sister of Sara. In her youth, she is physically strong and independent; in her adulthood, these traits frame her as masculine. Like Sara, Maria Josie possesses clairvoyance, as exemplified by her repeated vision of their mother’s execution by firing squad. Sara convinces her to quash these visions, and Maria Josie eventually does. Her one relationship with a man ends with the death of their stillborn son; later, she only seeks women as lovers, ignoring others’ judgement while dating a white doctor named Ethel. Maria Josie raises Diego and Luz when Sara sends them, and spends her days working at a dangerous mirror factory—where disfiguring accidents frequently occur.

Lizette, Diego and Luz’s 18-year-old Latinx cousin, is the only daughter of Eduardo and Teresita. Her family lives on the Westside, an industrial area of Denver. While she and Luz are close, Lizette is more worldly. She is sexually active with her Filipino boyfriend-turned-fiancé, Alfonso, explaining to Luz that one can have sex without becoming pregnant. While Luz views matrimony as a bonding of true lovers, Lizette views it as a social contract between a man and woman, each providing for the other’s needs. She works with Luz at a laundry, cleaning the clothes of white citizens, and proves an adept seamstress, her sewing leading her to work for fellow seamstress Natalya—who creates Lizette’s wedding gown. She exhibits a mix of tradition and rebellion, respecting her family’s history but ultimately forging her own path: Lizette keeps Eleanor Anne’s pregnancy out of wedlock a secret and lets her veil fall at her wedding.

Diego Lopez is Luz’s older brother, Sara and Benny’s son, and Maria Josie’s nephew. He is a handsome young man whom many women find attractive. In addition to his job at a rubber company, he is a snake charmer who runs a show with two rattlesnakes; these snakes are later killed and replaced with a single female snake. When Diego’s liaison with white Eleanor Anne results in her pregnancy, her father and brothers beat him with a brick. As he recovers, he decides he must leave Denver to keep his family safe. He remains close to Luz in their separation, and when she demands he return home, he leaves his farm work north and travels back to Denver, experiencing several sexual encounters on the way. In the final scene, Diego claims Lucille, his daughter by Eleanor Anne. While his aunt Teresita uses his beating as an example for Luz and Lizette, a way to illustrate women’s limitations in a man’s world, his reclaiming of Lucille—a survivor akin to his female snake—illustrates hope for the family.

Pidre Lopez is an abandoned child of an Indigenous Pueblo father and Spanish mother, found by Desiderya the Sleepy Prophet of Pardona—who prophesizes he will meet a fierce woman and have two daughters in the wider world. As she carries him past a Catholic church, she compels the spirits of four deceased priests to tell her his name: Pidre, which means “to question” and “stone” in Spanish. He is short and wiry, an affable negotiator well-liked by all who deal with him. He creates an outdoor entertainment show with fortunetellers and snake charmers in Animas, with his future wife, Simodecea, as the main attraction. Ultimately, white men murder Pidre and his business partner Mickey, to force Pidre’s family off their own property (as they lack mineral rights) so they can mine for radium.

Simodecea Salazar-Smith is a Mexican sharpshooter in a traveling show, who accidentally kills her husband during a bear attack. Pidre recognizes her strength and hires her to be the main attraction in his outdoor entertainment show. The pair fall in love and have two daughters, Sara and Maria Josie, though they never marry. Simodecea has much in common with her younger daughter, Maria Josie, in that she is strong and skeptical. Despite Pidre being raised by the clairvoyant Desiderya, it is Simodecea who warns him that white men will take their property. She avenges the murder of Pidre by three men, but recognizes she, Sara, and Maria Josie cannot remain in Animas. She ushers her daughters to the safety of Saguarita and ultimately dies by firing squad. This execution haunts Maria Josie until she actively quashes the vision.

David Tikas is the son of Pete “Papa” Tikas, a benevolent Greek grocer. As a 14-year-old, David falls into a flash flood, nearly drowning before Maria Josie saves him. This establishes a bond between the two families that Luz eventually exploits—only for David to exploit her in turn. He studies law at Columbia before returning to Denver and establishing a legal practice. Needing an assistant, he hires Luz out of obligation to Maria Jose. David’s advocation for the rights of BIPOC individuals draws the malice of the KKK. While he is described as a handsome lady’s man, one whom Luz finds irresistible, he takes advantage of her infatuation, employment under him, and relative youth to take have sex with her at Lizette’s wedding. However, this liaison and previous encounters always end with him leaving her wanting. This behavior likely stems from David’s uncle Dominic, who treated women as disposable.