The Familiar

The Familiar (2024) is an adult historical fantasy novel by Leigh Bardugo, set in Spain’s Golden Age. In a world devoted to the glory of Spain and the Christian God, orphaned kitchen scullion Luzia Cotado hides her Jewish lineage and the small magical songs that give her dull life moments of ease. When her employer discovers her gifts, Luzia comes under the scrutiny of a ruthless patron and a disgraced official trying to curry favor with the king. She finds an ally and a lover in the ageless, immortal Santángel, but he is under a curse of his own, and as she becomes a target for ambitious plots and the Inquisition, Luzia wonders if her magic will be enough to help her survive.

Bardugo is the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, a work of paranormal contemporary fantasy, and several young adult fantasy novels. Her work has received numerous awards. The Familiar was an instant New York Times bestseller.

This guide uses the 2024 Flatiron hardcover edition.

Content Warning: This guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of antisemitism.

Plot Summary

Orphaned Luzia Cotado works as a maid in the kitchen of the Casa Ordoño and comes to the attention of her mistress, Doña Valentina, the day that Luzia says a spell to fix a loaf of burned bread. Luzia learned the small refranes she sings from her Aunt Hualit, who is the mistress of the powerful Víctor de Paredes, the luckiest man in Madrid. Luzia’s ancestors were Jews who converted to Christianity to escape torture by the Inquisition, but the language of the refranes is something else, a blend of several tongues. Valentina pressures Luzia to perform a trick for her guests at dinner, and Luzia, tired of being invisible, smashes a glass goblet, then magically makes it whole.

Fearing she will be brought before the Inquisition, Luzia goes to her aunt for shelter, but Hualit turns her over to Víctor, who is looking for a milagrero—someone who can perform miracles. King Philip is looking for a way to rebuild the glory of Spain after the defeat of his armada by the English queen, and his disgraced royal secretary, Antonio Pérez, is holding a tournament to find the king a holy champion. The Ordoños give Luzia a room of her own, and Víctor’s companion, a pale and mysterious man named Santángel, comes to coach Luzia on using her power. They are drawn to one another. Luzia demonstrates how she can manipulate objects, even living things, but if she tries to multiply coins or jewels, they turn into creatures that bite.

Santángel is Víctor’s servant and assassin, known as “the Scorpion,” and he has lived for a long time. When Víctor grows impatient and wants more impressive miracles, he commands his bodyguard to torture Santángel. Luzia grows upset and shrieks a spell that kills the bodyguard, but also splits her tongue, showing the dark side of her magic. Santángel helps her heal and explains to Luzia that her magic was trying to help her escape. He admires Luzia’s spirit, but he is also helping her because Víctor promised that if he helps Luzia win the tournament, Santángel will be free.

At the secretary’s palace, Luzia meets the other contenders: An olive farmer who sings; Teoda, the Holy Child spoken to by angels; and a woman known as The Beauty. Luzia passes the first trial successfully, but that night, someone tries to kill her by putting a scorpion in her room. At the second trial, during a puppet show, demonic shadows grow out of the puppets and attack the audience. Santángel helps Luzia defeat them, but after the Holy Child is turned over to the Inquisition for being a heretic and The Beauty runs away, only Luzia and the olive farmer are left. She agrees to cooperate with him for the third trial, but the olive farmer betrays her, revealing that he was responsible for the shadows. When Santángel tries to flee with Luzia, he is shot by the guards, while she is seized by soldiers and thrown into the prison at Toledo to be tried by the Inquisition.

Teoda is in the cell with her. To escape further torture by the officials of the Inquisition, Luzia uses her refranes to sneak them out of prison, but only Teoda escapes. When Víctor arrives to negotiate for Luzia, Santángel encourages Luzia to denounce him and confesses he is a demon so the Inquisition will take him and break his bond to Víctor. However, Luzia denounces herself as well, asking Santángel to trust her. They are condemned at an auto de fe and put on a pyre to die, but at the last second, Luzia utters a spell to spirit them away.

Both Víctor and the olive farmer lose their power. Valentina goes back to her home with a lady playwright as her companion, and Luzia and Santángel, free and anonymous, travel the world together. Each morning, because of his curse, Santángel burns to ash, and each morning, Luzia uses her refranes to heal him so they can be together. An Author’s Note from Bardugo explains that the refranes are in Ladino, a language that is a blend of Castilian Spanish and Hebrew mixed with borrowings from other languages, spoken and preserved by Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492.