LA Regenta

With its frank sexuality and searing critique of the Church, La Regentascandalized contemporary Spain when it was first published in 1885.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. 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. Spain’s answer to Madame Bovary, La Regentawittily depicts the complacent and frivolous world of the upper class.

Leopoldo Alas (1852-û1901) was the author of another novel, Su +¦nico hijo, short stories and critical essays.
John Rutherford is a fellow of Queen-'s College, Oxford, and award-winning translator of the Penguin Classics edition of Don Quixote. For his translation of La Regenta he was decorated by King Juan Carlos of Spain.