Unveiling The Saturnino Ximénez Files
History isn’t just written. It’s inherited.
Get The Oran Ultimatum, the FREE prequel short story to The Saturnino Ximénez Files.
Discover the story of a young idealist forged in the fires of a dying revolution. Meticulously researched and powerfully told, The Oran Ultimatum is a story of survival, disillusionment, and the impossible choice that forges a survivor.
Inspired by the globe-trotting life of the real Saturnino Ximénez Enrich, also known as Sadurní, the series follows the fictionalised adventures of a young journalist who uncovers secrets that could rewrite history, from the colonial shadows of 1874 Manila to the perilous frontiers of the Great Game.
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A New Series of Historical Mysteries
Guiomar Bruidegom is a historical mystery writer and the great-granddaughter of Saturnino Ximénez Enrich (1853-1933)—the eccentric 19th-century journalist, archaeologist, and adventurer once dubbed a “Catalan Indiana Jones.” The Saturnino Ximénez Files explores a simple premise: what if, in 1874, instead of reporting on the war in Spain, this remarkable man had embarked on a journey to the other side of the world?
A Mystery of Conscience and Empire
Debut Novel Release: April 22, 2026
The Facts Behind the Fiction
Explore the real history, people, and places that inspired The Saturnino Ximénez Files.
The Story Behind the Stories
My name is Bárbara Guiomar Ximénez Bruidegom, and Saturnino Ximénez Enrich is my great-grandfather. I grew up immersed in the incredible lore of his life, and had long held a dream of reimagining his adventures within the historical mystery genre I adore.
For years, that dream remained just a flight of fancy—until I stumbled on a research paper by María José Vilar. It was a lightning strike moment. Her work suggested a plausible, if debated, turning point: that Saturnino had been sent into exile after the Cantonal Rebellion of 1873.
While my family believes this exile may be a romantic misinterpretation of his own writing, it provided the unmissable opportunity I had been searching for. It allowed me to divert the fictional Saturnino’s path from the real-life dossier, sending him into a world of colonial secrets and forgotten manuscripts that I can’t wait for you to discover.
Field Notes: Latest Writing & Research
Steamship Timetables, the Larrinaga Line and a Full Moon
At the core of The Mariquina Manuscript, Sadurní Enrich travels from Cartagena to Manila in 1874, with his route aligned to Larrinaga Line steamship schedules via the Suez Canal and his arrival refined to match a historically accurate full moon during a key scene in Intramuros. Every historical fiction author knows the terror of the…
The Suez Rabbit Hole: Researching the Logistics of Exile
This post takes you behind the scenes of The Mariquina Manuscript, exploring the historical detective work behind the exile journey that physically transports our protagonist from a failed revolution in Spain to a new life in the colonial Philippines. As an author of historical fiction, you sometimes encounter a plot problem that can only be…
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Dispatches on research, writing, and the world of Saturnino Ximénez.