Zijn eniggeboren zoon

I loved Alas' 'La Regenta', and this is almost as brilliant, his characterization of complex, tragic, sometimes hilarious personalities creates a compelling storyline.
Emma is a disconsolate wife; married to a weak, utterly dependant - albeit nice looking- husband, she has become a harpie ("he was

Show More

Desdemona, his wife Othello- she certainly had the temper for it"). Violent, abusive, disparaging , her husband's only value to her is in his nursemaiding skills for her largely imaginary complaints, as he must be ever on hand to perform sundry unpleasant tasks of care-giving.
The reader hardly blames him for taking up with a lovely singer; soon he is misappropriating his wife's fortune to pay off the girl's manager/ pimp/ sometime-lover...
As his wife's all-seeing uncle (and head of the family finances), Nepomuceno, realises what is happening...as the invalid wife suddenly, miraculously, starts to regain her youthful vitality...a lot happens, and this reader couldn't put it down.
Fabulous writing! How can Alas not be better known? 150% recommended!

Show Less