My first instinct is to class it as heavily-researched historical fiction because of the number of times Townsend attributes dialogue taken from codices to Malintzin (and others) without sufficient qualification, among other embellishments. As this may be somewhat unfair, however, a better broad category might be socio-cultural anthropology; Townsend's focus, with Malintzin as the lens, is on Nahuatl-speaking culture as the Spanish interacted with it and affected it through the conquest. An anthropological practice known as multi-sited ethnography follows a subject through physical space and time, and Townsend's use of historical data could be seen as taking the place of a field study.
As a broad classification of anthropology by default incorporates "culture contact", the next label is easily a "book about women" because Townsend frequently stresses varying cultural attitudes toward and treatments of women, sometimes drawing direct comparisons to the present day. This emphasis on women's agency or lack thereof has the effect of giving the book something of a feminist tone.
Global categorization also seems fairly straightforward; Townsend follows Malintzin on her travels with the conquistadors and addresses cultures across Latin America, meaning that this book cannot be limited to Mexico, Mesoamerica, and certainly not Spain.
The fourth category I would class this under, or advertise it as, is possibly travelogue - Townsend's descriptions of the surroundings that Malinztin saw or must have seen are at times so dramatic and weighted with commentary one must assume that she was there herself.
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