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This book ends her tetralogy about the Brazilian Colonial period. “Their situation takes into consideration where they were born, the social position of their husbands or fathers, and how long they stayed in Minas Gerais State. All these factors are important to distinguish them in the same social group”, the authors write.

To understand the lives of these Brazilian women in the Colonial period, the research was based on documents from the Ultramarine Historical Archive of Lisbon, National Archive of Rio de Janeiro and, especially, on Minas Gerais State Archives. In these places, the possibilities to provide accurate information about this woman was much bigger. “My study is mainly based on the documentation resulting from petitions to the Crown sent by women of the elite for a variety of reasons: entry into convents, gatherings of Portugal and Atlantic islands, confirmation of governorial salaries, tutorials, emancipations, legitimations, donations, various conflicts, requests for property or services, etc.”, she says.

The book, segmented in 19 chapters, contemplates a great number of cases: from widows pleading their rights, abductions of maidens, divorces, and infirmities. The density of the book is compensated by a fluid reading, heavily underlined in official documents of the Crown, taking readers closer to this documental wealth. The tying of facts provides an immersion in the complexity of the stories hidden by time.