Summary : "Of Love and Other Demons"

Cam Collins
Maddox
Summary
2 May 2010

In the beginning of the novel, a girl of twelve years of age, Sierva Maria, gets bitten by a dog and contracts rabies. Sierva Maria is a girl living in a royal house, her father the Marquis, and her mother a woman named Bernarda. Bernarda lies in her room all day everyday bathing and taking cacao tablets. She smells like soap from her six bathings a day. The Marquis also usually resides in the house. Both parents do not care much for Sierva Maria until she is bitten and diagnosed with rabies.

After Sierva Maria has been bit by the dog, the Marquis visits Abrenuncio, the well-known physician around the city. At the same time, Sierva Maria has been acting very strange, laying sprawled on the floor panting and weeping day and night. Abrenuncio informs the Marquis that Sierva Maria has rabies and that no one has ever survived rabies so she does not have that much longer to live.

Immediately after his confrontation with Abrenuncio, the Marquis goes to the Bishop to get his opinion of what to do with Sierva Maria. The Bishop holds that Sierva Maria should be taken to the Convent of Santa Clara because her strange actions at home are very similar to the actions of one who is possessed by demons. He then decides that he will take Sierva Maria to the convent and dresses her beautifly, takes her valise, and they are off.

The Bishop's assistant, Cayetano Delaura, is asked to take over the exorcism of Sierva Maria. He is reluctant to accept this mission, feeling that he is not worthy to take the job. In his first meeting with Sierva Maria, Delaura is unsuccessful. He continues to come back, giving her pastries from the arcades. They grow with one another, and over time fall in love. He is thirty-six and she is twelve. Will their love relationship prosper? Will she be cured of her demons? Read the rest and find out.