This book investigates how 17th-century women in Spanish America navigated societal constraints to document their own lives and identities. Kathleen Ann Myers, a scholar of colonial Latin American literature, utilizes a diverse array of primary sources—including Inquisition records, canonization documents, and personal journals—to reconstruct the lived experiences of six specific women. The work argues that these women utilized available cultural and religious frameworks to assert their voices within a patriarchal colonial structure.

Scholars in the field of colonial studies frequently cite this work for its rigorous use of archival primary sources to illuminate marginalized voices. Experts highlight the text as a valuable resource for understanding the intersection of gender, religion, and power in the Spanish American colonial context.