Zorro is a 2005 novel by Chilean author Isabel Allende. Its subject is the American pulp hero Diego de la Vega, better known as El Zorro (The Fox).
Captain Alejandro de la Vega, a Spanish soldier, marries a Native American woman named Regina. He retires from the military and becomes a hacienda owner, and later an alcalde. The two have a son, Diego. While Regina is pregnant with Diego, she befriends Ana, also Native American and a young Christian convert assigned to care for her during her pregnancy. She has her own son, Bernardo, who grows up with Diego and the two become friends. As youths, Diego and Bernardo undergo an indigenous rite of passage to prove their maturity and to find their spirit guides. Bernardo's spirit guide is a horse and Diego's is a fox (zorro in his native Spanish).
Alejandro receives a letter from an old friend, Tomas de Romeu, who resides in what was then French-occupied Spain. Tomas urges Alejandro to send Diego to Barcelona, where he can receive more formal schooling, and learn fencing under the maestro Manuel Escalante. Alejandro reluctantly allows Diego to go, accompanied by Bernardo.
In Barcelone, the young men live with de Romeu and his two young daughters, Juliana and Isabel. Diego is immediately struck by Juliana and decides to pursue her romantically. The main competitor for her affections is Rafael Moncada, whom Diego humiliates in a fencing duel. At Escalante's invitation, Diego joins La Justicia, a secret organization devoted to justice for people who are marginalized in society. He takes the name Zorro.
