There are not many early modern Spanish women to whom scholars have devoted as much attention as to Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza, and certainly there are not many historians who can do so as thoroughly as Anne J. Cruz. Following previous English editions of parts of Carvajal's works by Elizabeth Rhodes (Milwaukee 2000) and Glyn Redworth (London 2012), Cruz's book succeeds in placing various genres of Carvajal's writing (autobiography, spiritual poetry and correspondence) into the complex context of her childhood as well as the religious and political tensions between Spain and England at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The book is divided into four parts: a comprehensive introduction by the author (pp. 1–109); Luisa de Carvajal's autobiographical writings (pp. 111–52); a selection of her spiritual poems (pp. 153–99); and a selection of correspondence covering her last years in Spain and her stay in London until her death in 1613/1614 (pp. 201–350). In her detailed introduction, Cruz convinces the reader of Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza's unique position in the tense relationship between the Catholic monarchy and Protestant England, and explores the reasons behind Carvajal's desire to support the Catholic cause outside of Spain by moving to London in the hope of becoming a martyr for her faith. From Cruz's careful edition of the autobiography, selected poems and correspondence emerges not only a well-drawn image of the external pressures exerted upon Luisa but also a vivid description of the internal tensions that often led to her making decisions considered unwise by family, by members of the Spanish court, and, after her move to London in 1605, by both English and Spanish authorities. Despite Carvajal's writings being already known to historians of early modern Spain, Cruz's book advances scholarship both in terms of her significant historical investigation and deep textual analysis. The book is to be welcomed as a valuable addition to our understanding of this remarkable woman which goes beyond predetermined categories of gender and class.