"Luchana" by Benito Pérez Galdós is a historical novel written in the late 19th century. Part of the Episodios Nacionales, it dramatizes the political convulsions of Spain in the 1830s—especially the La Granja uprising and the liberal push to restore the 1812 Constitution—interwoven with the personal story of the young protagonist Fernando Calpena and those around him. Expect a blend of eyewitness chronicle, irony, and romantic undercurrents. The opening of the novel
unfolds through a sharp, ironic letter from a “señora incógnita” who witnesses the tense hours at La Granja: soldiers murmur, the Himno de Riego rings out, and sargentos press the Regent, María Cristina, to proclaim the Constitution of 1812. Inside a drab archive room, two sargents—timid yet firm—debate the Regent and her courtiers; a naive soldier’s answers add comic pathos, and a minister’s legal quibble about the regency article briefly stalls things before the Regent yields and signs the decree. The scene shifts to Laguardia, where Fernando Calpena—recovering from a wound—reads these letters to a cautious local tertulia, then navigates household life with the pious Navarridas family. A subplot emerges: Demetria’s guardians arrange a grand match with the impeccably virtuous don Rodrigo de Urdaneta Idiáquez, while Fernando, skeptical of such perfection and intent on pursuing his beloved Aura, prepares to depart. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
