The Spanish Daughter

Puri hides under the bed in Angélica’s room and sees two men enter, able only to see their legs. Laurent speaks rapidly in French and roughly puts Ramona in her cage, treating the bird more harshly than he has ever done in Angélica’s presence. While Puri can’t see the other man, she thinks they appear to be close enough to kiss Laurent. Puri wonders if they are intimate, noting Laurent’s flirtatious demeanor toward her when she is dressed as Cristóbal. The other man speaks in Spanish in a low voice and they leave.

The novel flashes back to the preparations for Angélica’s 18th birthday party. Her friend, Silvia, helps Angélica to choose the color of her party dress, settling on blue. She controls Angélica and their conversation at the dress shop. As they arrive back at Angélica’s house, Angélica sees Juan waiting for her father after being gone for years. She perceives him to be cold and distant and treats him brusquely. She secretly harbors feelings for him.

Although Silvia annoys Angélica with her constant demands and conversation, she feels drawn to her, and Angélica’s mother agrees to all of Silvia’s suggestions about the party. Her mother is a plain woman who doesn’t offer any resistance to Don Armand and ignores that he has another wife in Spain. Describing her as beautiful but with a terrible temper, Don Armand brags about her ability to please a man.

The night of her party, her father introduces her to Laurent for the first time. The debonair Frenchman introduces himself as a novelist and artist and an admirer of Matisse. Laurent notices Angélica staring at Juan, and he asks if she wants to talk to him. She demurs, and they go to sit down for dinner. As she walks with Laurent toward the table, she sees Juan leaving and briefly goes to talk to him. He tells her to return to her wealthy friends and that he won’t bother her again.

Puri visits her father’s grave on the plantation and sees a pile of dead petals on the mound of earth, suggesting that no one has visited in some time. Realizing she’s close to the Duarte’s burned-out house, Puri walks over. There, she finds a metal box containing Franco’s notebook, in which he has written that his best friend is Catalina. Seeing this and noticing the childlike handwriting, Puri wonders how such a saintly woman could have been close to a murderer. Martin finds her and he offers to take her to town to show her a place she will like. She tells him she can’t go back to the brothel—she misses her wife too much. He tells her that it’s another place.

They drive into town, and they see Alberto in a linen suit and straw hat. Although Martin calls out to him, Alberto doesn’t recognize them. They pass Soledad’s house, where Puri sees a young woman walk out, crying. At a coffee shop, she and Martin share delicious coffee. Puri again discusses chocolate, telling him that Puri’s grandmother told Don Armand about chocolate and cacao. They eat a corn delicacy, and Martin asks her to sell the small bit of land she’s inheriting. He recognizes that Angélica and Catalina will want the land. Puri wavers, and Martin reminds her that she said that she wanted to sell it. She tells him she will decide soon.

Puri remembers where she saw the young woman leaving Soledad’s house: She is Tomás’s maid.

In a flashback, Catalina deals with the consequences of her lie about seeing the Virgin. Her mother gains social standing and confidence, and Angélica becomes attentive. On an outing walking up a hill, she goes forward as a flock of pilgrims follow her. Led by her mother, Catalina seeks some other vision, which she understands will not happen. They approach a break in the vegetation, and her mother forces her to kneel while she addresses the crowd. Catalina sees Elisa in a blue cloak. While the pilgrims pray, Catalina notices a bright light in the sky. Elisa yells, and Catalina collapses.

As they return home, Catalina looks for Elisa but can’t find her. Elisa is in Catalina’s room, and she asks if Catalina told her father about the doll. Catalina tells her no, and Elisa leaves. Catalina approaches her father and asks about the doll. He tells her that he gave the doll to Elisa and asks more about where she is. Catalina wants to know about the doll’s significance, and he promises to tell her if she will tell him the truth about the Virgin’s apparition. She tells him that she didn’t see her but needed an excuse to hide Elisa, who was in her room. Don Armand tells Catalina that Elisa is her sister, and she and her mother had to leave the property after Catalina’s mother found out.

At midnight, Puri goes to her father’s study to retrieve his journal. In it, she discovers that he has a child named Elisa. He initiated the affair, and when his wife found out, he sent her and Elisa away. Don Armand received occasional updates, but they stopped. Puri reflects that Cristóbal never had an affair, but she would welcome a child now from an affair as a piece of him to comfort her. She leaves the hacienda and goes to the river to bathe and cool off.

In the morning, she has breakfast and observes Laurent, wondering about what she heard and saw the previous night. Angélica asks about Puri’s death certificate, and Puri apologizes for inconveniencing them with her stay. Catalina and Angélica agree that she should stay because she’s their sister’s husband.

The sisters leave the table and Puri remains with Laurent, who explains why he came to Ecuador and what he finds provincial about Vinces. Puri sees Mayra, Tomás’s maid, talking to Julia outside. Laurent asks Puri to take a walk, and she declines, convinced that she needs to speak to Mayra.

After eavesdropping on Mayra and Julia, Puri asks Mayra why she was crying the other day. She is pregnant with Alberto’s child, and he promised to give her money for the baby. Tomás fired her, and Julia is furious with her. Mayra went to the curandera to have an abortion, but she and Alberto changed their minds. Mayra begs Puri to help her.

Puri thinks about Mayra’s baby and how she and Cristóbal tried for years to have a child. She encounters Martin, and she asks to discuss something privately with him later.

She rides Pacha over to his home, and he teases her for being late. Bachita, his part-time maid, greets her. She tells Martin about Mayra and asks him to hire her. At first, he declines, but Puri convinces him. Puri makes them chocolate and explains her grandmother’s recipe, which includes sea salt. She gives some to Bachita for her children, and she and Martin discuss the property. After she tells him she has no plan to sell it, he asks her why she pretends to be a man.

Martin asks Puri if she wants to be called by her full name or Puri, like the plantation. Shocked, Puri asks how he knew and for how long. He admits that she gave a somewhat convincing performance, but he could see her hips in the saddle, and he saw and heard her bathe last night in the creek. She confesses everything—her miscarriage months before they left Spain, Cristóbal’s murder, and her theories about Franco and Angélica.

Martin remains unconvinced—he thinks Angélica wouldn’t murder anyone, and Catalina deserves to be called a saint. Puri disagrees: Catalina is human, and Angélica filed a lawsuit against Don Fernando del Río. Their unhappiness about the will, which Martin acknowledges, could translate to murder. Puri then mentions the snake—Martin tries to dismiss it, but the color drains from his face. Puri also mentions the fourth daughter, Elisa, whom Martin does not know of.

Despite her theories and deception, Martin promises not to tell Puri’s sisters her secret.

In a flashback, Angélica talks to her mother about Laurent and whether he will propose. Her mother tells her she needs to prove herself to him, which she can do by making him dulce de guayaba, a dessert made from guava. As she gathers the fruit, Juan speaks to her. Teasing her, he touches her hair and caresses her face. She castigates him for his rudeness, and he takes her to task for her transformation, calling her cold. She realizes that she has been mean to her sister and mother, even rationalizing her father’s adultery.

Juan asks if she still plans to marry Laurent, telling her that if she does, he won’t speak to her again. As he comes closer to her, she welcomes his attention. Without notice, he steps back, confirming that she still has feelings for him. She calls out to him by his name, asking him to stay, and he tells her that he started using his middle name, Martin, while he was at school in Colombia.

Puri finds Angélica in a dress while Catalina sews the hem. Catalina mentions seeing Silvia, and Angélica stiffens, clearly uncomfortable. Catalina doesn’t notice as she continues to work the dress. Puri watches them unnoticed until Catalina looks up and calls out Cristóbal’s name. Puri compliments Catalina’s talents with her needle, and Angélica confirms that Catalina makes all her clothes.

Hearing a commotion, they notice Julia attempting to keep Soledad, the curandera, from finding Puri. Angélica tries to make her leave, and Soledad reveals that Puri offered to help her find her son after Angélica refused to. Angélica responds that men often leave, taking nothing as they seek new opportunities. Puri silently disagrees because she has seen men’s nuances since accessing male spaces.

Puri admits she agreed to help Soledad file a police report and says they can go now. Angélica offers to go instead, and in her absence, Puri asks Catalina about Franco. Catalina only offers surface-level replies, and when Puri digs deeper, Catalina begins to cry.

The novel flashes back to the previous year. Catalina receives a message from Franco asking her to meet him at the creek, where he has a present for her. She arrives, and they go to his house, where Catalina feels free to smoke her cigarettes. She unwraps his gift—he made her a tiny violin from wood, modeled after the one she plays.

He tries to kiss her and she refuses at first, thinking of the consequences of sex that Angélica has told her about and how he seems like a brother. However, her desire takes over, and she lets down her resistance. Soon after, she thinks of hell and her mother, pushing him away. Angry, Franco tells her not to touch him. She can’t find her cigarette or his, and Catalina doesn’t have her tiny violin in her hand. Suddenly, she sees smoke and flames and hears his father cough.

Franco tells her to jump from the second-story window, convincing her that she will land safely. Closing her eyes, she does so, and she feels searing pain when she hits the ground. Franco goes back into the house to rescue his father.

Puri tells Laurent that she needs to go to church to confess. She sees Alberto there, and she plans to make him confess to her. As they go to what Alberto thinks is her confession, Puri asks him if he always wanted to be a priest. Alberto tells her he wanted to be an architect because a book of European cathedrals entranced him. He joined the priesthood to find all the evidence for God, to disprove his existence.

He recounts that one day, he prayed the rosary in this church and looked to the Virgin Mary. Praying that God existed, he felt a sudden lightness and freedom. As he apologizes for his long answer, Puri tells him that Mayra came to see her, and she carries his child. Puri claims not to judge him, but she saw Mayra exit the curandera’s the other day. As Alberto explains that they will not take that path, he says he will help Mayra but minimizes the effect her pregnancy will have on her life.