From Oñate to the Farm

De Oñate a la Granja is the third novel of the third series of the National Episodes of Benito Pérez Galdós, recounts incidents related to the mutiny of La Granja de San Ildefonso or mutiny of the sergeants of La Granja. This was an uprising that took place in Spain in May 1836, during the Regency of Maria Cristina of Bourbon.
In the mutiny, a group of sergeants forced María Cristina to reinstate the Constitution of 1812 and to appoint a progressive liberal government presided over by José María Calatrava with Juan Álvarez Mendizábal back in the Finance portfolio.
In the first part of the book, Fernando Calpena and Pedro Hillo are in prison in Madrid, where they will be lucky enough to run into other political prisoners like them. From these sources we will know the latest political news that tell us about the failure of the Mendizábal government and the state of the Carlist war in the north.
Once free, the protagonist Fernando will be torn between inflamed and romantic love with Aurora (Aura) Negretti and brotherly appreciation (or so he thinks) with Demetria, a young woman who, along with her sister and father, has helped to escape from the “factionalists”, as the constitutionalists called the traditionalists. Meanwhile, we continue with the mystery of who is the benefactor and protector of the young man, who has ended up accepting, albeit reluctantly, Fernando’s passion for Aura. Unknown that it is no longer for Don Pedro Hillo, the priest who has become Fernando’s mentor and bridge between the secret benefactor and our hero.
This last part of the book is an epic very much in the style of Pérez Galdós, in which encounters with strangers take place and where we travel through the Basque regions on a getaway to the plains of La Rioja.