Of Love and Other Demons

Set in a Caribbean colonial port city in the eighteenth century, this novel centres on Sierva María, the lonely daughter of a decaying aristocratic family, raised largely among enslaved servants. After a dog bite, she is suspected of rabies and then of possession, and the Church takes an interest. A priest, Cayetano Delaura, is assigned to her case, and an intense bond forms between them. The book explores religion, superstition, class and the clash between love and institutional authority, in a richly atmospheric colonial world.