A brilliant comic novel - surprisingly sexy for the 1890s - by the author of *La Regenta*, generally considered the best Spanish novel of the 19th century.

Bonifacio Reyes is the mild-mannered, muddleheaded sickroom slave of his wife, the neurotic and capricious heiress Emma Valcárcel. When a traveling opera company comes to town, their contacts with the singers - the charming, unscrupulous tenor and entrepreneur Mochi, the beautiful, voluptuous soprano Serafina Gorgheggi, the roguish baritone Minghetti - are destined to make great changes in their boring provincial lives...