Of Love and Other Demons

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From the Nobel Prize-winning author of Love in the Time of Cholera comes a novel about a doomed love affair between a spirited copper-haired girl and a bookish priest assigned to oversee her exorcism. Set in a colonial South American seaport, the story unfolds during a time of viceroys, bishops, and inquisitors. Sierva Maria, the only child of a declining noble family, grows up in her father's mansion's slaves' courtyard, while her mother indulges in fermented honey and cacao on a distant plantation. On her twelfth birthday, she is bitten by a rabid dog, leading to torturous treatments as she is believed to be possessed. She is taken to a convent for observation, where Father Cayetano Delaura, the Bishop's protege, encounters her. He has dreamt of a girl with hair flowing like a bridal train and is captivated by this frail, defiant girl strapped to a stone bed. As he administers holy water and oils, Delaura experiences "something immense and irreparable"—an overwhelming love, described as "the most terrible demon of all." Soon, Sierva Maria shares in his fevered misery. This unsettling tale immerses readers in an exotic world while exploring universal human experiences.