Married to the retired magistrate of Vetusta, Ana Ozores cares deeply for her much older husband but feels stifled by the monotony of her life in the shabby and conservative provincial town. And when she embarks on a quest for fulfillment through religion and even adultery, a bitter struggle begins between a powerful priest and a would-be Don Juan for the passionate young woman's body and soul. Scandalizing contemporary Spain when it was first published in 1885, with its searing critique of the Church and its frank treatment of sex, La Regenta is a compelling and witty depiction of the complacent and frivolous world of upper-class society.

Author Biography

Leopoldo Alas, "Clarin" (1852 - 1901). His only other novel is Su unico hijo (1891). John Rutherford is a fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford, where he teaches Spanish, Spanish-American, and Galician language and literature. He has also translated Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes for Penguin Classics. For the translation of La Regenta he was decorated in 1984 by King Juan Carlos of Spain with the Medalla de Oro al Merito en las Bellas Artes.