Spanish · Intermediate
Read Doña Perfecta in Spanishwith every sentence explained
Benito Pérez Galdós · 1876
Free to start · iPhone, iPad & Mac
About the book
Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós was first published in 1876. In Passage you read the full text in the original Spanish, marked intermediate and filed under historical fiction and thriller and suspense. It runs to about 65,000 words.
A modern young man. An ancient town. An aunt who smiles a little too sweetly.
Pepe Rey is a brilliant young engineer from Madrid, open-minded and honest to a fault. His father has arranged for him to marry his cousin Rosario, and so he travels to the remote cathedral town of Orbajosa, home of her mother, his aunt Doña Perfecta, a widow admired by everyone for her piety and kindness.
The welcome is warm, and Rosario is lovely. But Pepe's frank opinions about science, progress and religion soon offend the town's gentlemen, above all the clever canon Don Inocencio. Lawsuits appear from nowhere, neighbours turn cold, and behind his aunt's gentle smile Pepe begins to sense an iron will.
Benito Pérez Galdós' Doña Perfecta (1876) is a gripping, increasingly tense novel about intolerance and the clash between old Spain and new. A long-time school classic in Spain and abroad, it has been filmed several times.
- Author
- Benito Pérez Galdós
- First published
- 1876
- Language
- Spanish
- Level
- Intermediate
- Genre
- Historical Fiction, Thriller and Suspense
- Length
- About 65,000 words
How it opens
Cuando el tren mixto descendente, núm. 65 (no es preciso nombrar la línea), se detuvo en la pequeña estación situada entre los kilómetros 171 y 172, casi todos los viajeros de segunda y tercera clase se quedaron durmiendo o bostezando dentro de los coches, porque el frío penetrante de la madrugada no convidaba a pasear por el desamparado andén. El único viajero de primera que en el tren venía bajó apresuradamente, y dirigiéndose a los empleados, preguntoles si aquel era el apeadero de Villahorrenda. (Este nombre, como otros muchos que después se verán, es propiedad del autor.)
Reading Doña Perfecta in Passage
Passage sets the book as a quiet, paginated reader in Spanish. Read at your own pace, and when a sentence stops you, tap it. You get:
- a natural translation of that exact sentence,
- a short note on the grammar, in plain words,
- the key words, which you can save with the sentence they came from,
- all of it in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Turkish or Portuguese, whichever you read best.
It's marked intermediate: comfortable once everyday Spanish feels familiar, with the harder sentences one tap away. The words you save come back later in short review games, so the book keeps teaching after you close it.
