That bringas woman

Behind the walls of the Royal Palace, Rosalía, 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, Rosalía 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, Galdós is Spain’s 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.