In 16th-century New Spain, Lady Leonora, with witchcraft punishable by death, masquerades as Pantera, who uses her magic to fight the tyranny of Spanish rule—and who is doomed to a short life, and must fight to the end when an ancient prophecy of destruction threatens to come true.

"'My job is to go to places where people die. I pack my bags, talk to the survivors, write my stories, then go home to wait for the next catastrophe. I don't wait very long.' Journalist Patricia Evangelista came of age in the aftermath of a street revolution that forged a new future for the Philippines. Three decades later, in the face of mounting inequality, the nation discovered the fragility of its democratic institutions under the regime of strongman...