SPOILERS!!!
With Luisa Fernanda we are witness to the turbulent times a the end of the 19th century. Montpensier uses his position to plot against his sister-in-law, thinking that he could become king. Yet, Isabel II is overthrown and he is also exiled. He is also suspected to be behind the death of Prim.
Montpensier is also key to Alfonso XIII becoming the king as he founds the Alfonsine party. Luisa Fernanda loses several of her children, and her daughter Mercedes, who marries Alfonso despite the oppostion of the Queen mother and the government, also dies shortly after the wedding. She also loses her other daughter, Cristina, who Alfonso thought to marry after Mercedes. And Alfonso also dies ten years later.
Luisa Fernanda expects death to take her at any moment, and she also remembers the death of her husband. That is how the book ends with her death.
And about Susillo Cranio discovers that the reason why the sculptor committed suicide was because he was not attracted to women but men. This is something that Luisa helps with as she wanted him to be buried in consecrated land. So with the help of the doctor who writes a letter, stating that Susillo was just a sick man who didn't know what he was doing when he killed himself. That letter published in a medicine journal helped the reputation of Susillo, and the archbishop and the judge did what they had to do for him.
I enjoyed the book, mainly the parts about Luisa Fernanda. The part about Susillo was interesting, but I think that the novel would have been the same without that subplot.
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