Dona Luz — Juan Valera

Doña Luz must abandon her aristocratic life in nineteenth-century Madrid and begin anew in rural Andalusia. What she cannot leave behind is her history: an illegitimate birth that defines who she is and what her future holds. Unwilling to settle for a husband of lesser intellect and sophistication, the lovely Doña Luz announces that she will never marry. As it has for more than a century, the revered style of Spanish writer Juan Valera pulls readers into this novel of love and uncertainty. Does Doña Luz follow the spiritual pull of Father Enrique or the sensual attraction of Don Jaime Pimental? A novel that has been enjoyed since its first publication in 1879, this translation offers readers a compelling view into the conflicts facing a protagonist of more than a century past, conflicts that are still poignantly relevant today.