This novel from Benito Perez Galdos is one of the towering masterpieces of nineteenth-century Spanish literature, a distinction that rests in large part on the indelible character of Dona Perfecta. As a new widow desperate to escape destitution, Dona Perfecta promised the hand of her young daughter in marriage to her nephew Pepe. But when the time comes for the wedding to be planned, Dona Perfecta has changed her mind — and she embarks on a ruthless campaign of terror to ensure that the ceremony never takes place.