Isabella and Ferdinand King of Castile

The story follows the intrigue and seemingly impossible rise to power of Isabella, who along with her husband, Ferdinand, built Castile into a world power. Isabella assumed personal responsibility for the voyage of Christopher Columbus to the new world.

Dr. Ruby D. Mitchell of Bassett has published a book, Virgin of the Sun, an historical novel of the Inca Indians.

Dr. Mitchell, retired Spanish professor at Patrick Henry Community College, traveled to Peru twice while researching material for the book. She met scholars eminent in Incan culture, including Maria Reiche, the authority on the meaning of the Nazca Lines.

Mrs. Mitchell also has published a textbook, Spanish Grammar: A Supplement.

A native of North Carolina, she moved to Martinsville after graduating from high school in Salisbury, North Carolina. Following two years at Averett College in Danville, she went to Baylor University to major in history and English. During World War II, after she graduated from Baylor, she taught civics and history at Woodrow Wilson High School in Danville. She later joined the staff at Fieldale High School and then taught another five years at John D. Bassett High School.

While teaching at Bassett, she began teaching Spanish with the University of Virginia Extension Service in Roanoke, and she later joined Patrick Henry as a Spanish teacher when it was established.

In 1961, Mrs. Mitchell received a Fulbright Scholarship and spent ten weeks in Spain, in a special seminar for teachers of Spanish.

She and her husband, Jubal, have two children.