La de Bringas [Spanish Edition]

La de Bringas is a realist novel that follows Rafaela Bringas, a shrewd and ambitious woman determined to rise in Madrid's 19th-century society through strategic marriage and social maneuvering. Married to the timid but wealthy Don Román Bringas, Rafaela controls the household finances and social standing with relentless ambition. Her desire for luxury and status leads her into reckless debt, threatening their stability. Galdós masterfully explores themes of class, gender, and social ambition in a rigidly conservative society. With sharp psychological insight and biting social critique, the novel portrays the struggles of women seeking influence and the moral compromises of a materialistic world, offering a vivid portrait of 19th-century Spanish bourgeois life.