house of spirits

CHAPTER 1: Rosa the Beautiful

• On a Holy Thursday, Severo and Nivea del Valle and their eleven children go to Mass. They are not Catholic, but Severo wanted to be elected to parliament and feels it is important to be seen at Mass.

• The members of the del Valle family are all unique. Nivea is an active suffragette who is extremely intuitive. Their oldest daughter, Rosa, is the most beautiful creature anyone has ever seen. Clara, in addition to being precocious, is clairvoyant.

• Despite Rosa's great beauty, she has never had many suitors who dared to approach her or her family. Several years before, Esteban Trueba, a young man from an old upper class family that lost all of its money, fell in love with Rosa and asked for her hand in marriage.

• After the del Valle family flees church, a group of men arrive carrying the body of Uncle Marcos, Nivea's brother. Marcos was an adventurer and Clara's favorite uncle. Between trips he stayed with the del Val...