Author:John Rutherford,Leopoldo Alas

Married to the retired magistrate of Vetusta, Ana Ozores cares deeply for her much older husband but feels stifled by the monotony of her life in the shabby and conservative provincial town. And when she embarks on a quest for fulfillment through religion and even adultery, a bitter struggle begins between a powerful priest and a would-be Don Juan for the passionate young woman's body and soul. Scandalizing contemporary Spain when it was first published in 1885, with its searing critique of the Church and its frank treatment of sex, La Regenta is a compelling and witty depiction of the complacent and frivolous world of upper-class society.
"Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in."
—— EVELYN WAUGH"He exhausts superlatives"
—— STEPHEN FRY"Pure word music"
—— DOUGLAS ADAMS"The Everyman edition promises to be a splendid celebration of the divine Plum"
—— THE INDEPENDENT"The handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare"
—— EVENING STANDARD"A handsome, collectable hardback edition"
—— Lynne Truss , THE TIMESIn a literary world which is so often either relaxed into the flabby indifference of review-speak, or corseted into position with the strings and eyelets of critical jargon, James Wood's tone is invaluable
—— Robert MacFarlane , Times Literary SupplementHe is one of literature's true lovers, and his deeply felt, contentious essays are thrilling in their reach and moral seriousness
—— Susan SontagJames Wood is an authentic literary critic, very rare in this bad time. One can dissent gently from his judgements but he is always urgent, lucid, and interesting
—— Harold BloomThe mysteries are never tainted by explanation, merely beautifully described, delivering a hypnotic read
—— Times Higher Education Supplement'For sheer love of a thumping narrative, the novel delivers gloriously-Inventive, alluring' David Mitchell
—— Guardian'Murakami's most addictive fix to date'
—— Independent'Engrossing and wildly inventive'
—— Times Literary SupplementTop marks. Fantastic
—— HeatLovely
—— Daily TelegraphMoving and intelligent
—— IndependentMagnetic, unpretentious and bursting with one-liners
—— CosmopolitanFans of chick-lit will understand when I say that this is a book you simply disappear into
—— Sunday Telegraph