That Bringas Woman

On the threshold of revolution, the degenerate upper classes of 1860s Madrid struggle to maintain a life of conspicuous consumption and extravagant display Behind the walls of the Royal Palace, Rosal?a, the wife of Francisco Bringas, an official of the crown, becomes entangled in her own attempts to keep up appearances. Locked in silent conflict with a penny-pinching husband over her ruling passion, the clothes and finery demanded by the social circle to which she aspires, Rosal?a embarks on a downward spiral of secret debt. Ultimately, she is faced with exchanging the only commodity of value she still possesses - herself. The equal of contemporaries Balzac and Hardy, Gald?s is Spains best-kept literary secret. That Bringas Woman, part of his panoramic series about Spanish society and history, is a caustic masterpiece of shrewd observation and ironic style. The only paperback edition avialable, in a new translation, with introduction, notes, selected criticism, text summa