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I read this book because I wanted to read something out of my genre comforts. I am glad I read it. It was written in the late 1800s by a Spanish writer and this edition was translated recently. I could tell it was a recent translation because the vocabulary was very modern. I am curious if there are English translations from the late 1800s?
It is a classic love story but with very heady intellectual philosophical debates and musings. At first I tried to read through these but eventually I skipped over a lot of it. This dialogue seems more suited to young adults who are pursuing the meaning of life.
I did enjoy the fact that life isn't much different in the 1800s Spain as it is today. People are still the same.
I really enjoyed the authors description of Don Acisclo. "He had served as administrator to the Marquis of Villlafria for at least 20yrs, during which time he had managed to arrange for all the assets of the marquisate to trickle gradually from his master's hands into his own more able and thrifty hands."
I would recommend this book because it describes a time in history that is probably not familiar to many. I also like how the author describes the characters and the unusual way the story is told. ( )

Spanish writer Juan Valera (1824-1905) published Dona Luz in 1879 after public acclaim for his first novel Pepita Jimenez was serialized in 1874. The two excellent novels have similar themes, the battle of body and soul waged in words through conversation and introspection.

The setting of the novel, translated by Kenneth Evan Barger, is a rural district of Andalusia in Spain where most of the people are limited in income and work for the landowners in the production of olive oil, wine, and other agricultural goods.

Dona Luz is the daughter of a Marquis who is sent by her father from Madrid to live in the town of Villafria. The beautiful but modest Luz has many suiters from the local area but rejects them in a kindly fashion. In spite of her noble heritage, she is very limited in income due to the profligate ways of her father.

For 12 years, Dona Luz lives an emotionally distant and quiet life in her uncle’s home in Villafria. Then, a wan priest arrives and is perceived by Luz as the embodiment of knowledge and faith.

The battlefields of the body and soul of Dona Luz are nightly “tertulias,” gatherings of the more prosperous Villafria citizens in a public hall for informed discussions of philosophy, politics, religion, and art. Luz and the Catholic priest, Father Enrique, develop an affinity for the topics of these discussions especially the value of faith.

The affinity becomes personal over the months until a handsome young society gentleman, Don Jaime, arrives in Villafria to engage in politics. He is the opposite of the priest, worldly, secular, and sexually attractive. The two men vie for the attention of Dona Luz each in his own way, appealing to her soul and body.

This is another wonderful novel by the realist Valera (see my review of Pepito Jimenez on Amazon). I look forward to reading more of this author, renowned in Spain but not well-known in the US. It is published by AmazonCrossing, a great new source of literatue. ( )