Marianela (1878) is a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós. Published toward the beginning of Pérez Galdós’ career, Marianela is a powerful story of romance and disability that raises timeless questions regarding the meaning of love and the values associated with beauty. Adapted several times for film and television in Spain and abroad, the novel is Pérez Galdós’ most universal works of fiction. Everyone is familiar with the phrase “love at first sight,” but what about “love at first song?” In Marianela, Benito Pérez Galdós explores the ways we understand love in relation to worldly beauty. His contemporary fable is set in the fictional town of Socartes, where a young orphan named Marianela captures the heart of the blind youth Pablo through her beautiful singing. Their love is pure, and they plan to marry, but Pablo’s father has other plans. Hiring the famous doctor Teodoro Golfín to restore his son’s eyesight, he unwittingly threatens the unique relationship between Pablo and Marianela, whose physical features are far from society’s ideal. Although he promises to love her forever, Pablo feels pressured to marry his cousin Florentina. This edition of Benito Pérez Galdós’s Marianela is a classic of Spanish literature reimagined for modern readers. Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.
