43 h 53 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 43 h 53 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Two women love the same spoiled man, but Madrid gives them very different places in his world.
Juanito Santa Cruz grows up surrounded by the comfort of a rich merchant family. He marries his gentle cousin Jacinta, who loves him and longs for a child. But Fortunata, a proud young woman from Madrid’s working poor, loves him too. As their lives cross, marriage, jealousy and class shape what each woman can hope for—and what she must face.
In Fortunata and Jacinta, Benito Pérez Galdós builds a city around this intimate conflict. Shopkeepers, priests, pawnbrokers and café gossips crowd the streets and households of nineteenth-century Madrid. Among them is Maxi Rubín, a frail dreamer who adores Fortunata and hopes love can reform her. A close, often funny narrator keeps personal desires and social pressures in the same frame.
What you’ll discover
- Two women beyond rivalry Meet Fortunata’s fierce pride and Jacinta’s gentleness, each shaped by a different place in society.
- Madrid in full voice Step among street sellers, family friends and café gossips who fill the city with talk.
- Comfort and its costs Enter the Santa Cruz household, where wealth and fierce family loyalty surround a spoiled son.
- The longing for motherhood Follow Jacinta’s wish for a child and see how deeply it shapes her world.
- Love against social boundaries Explore how desire and class press upon people who want love, dignity and belonging.
Who will love it
For readers who love big, humane novels about families, marriages and city life, who enjoy a narrator with a sense of humor, and who like to meet a whole society through its people.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Juanito Santa Cruz grows up adored
- Two merchant families build a dynasty
- Jacinta marries her cousin and learns his past
- Fortunata, the girl from the egg stalls, is left behind
- Maximiliano Rubín falls in love and plans to reform her
- The convent and the wedding make a lady of her
- Old love returns and the marriage cracks
- Jacinta longs for a child and takes up the poor
- The book asks who is allowed to love and to belong
- A narrator who knows Madrid tells it with humor
Who’s who
- Juanito Santa CruzThe charming, spoiled son of a rich cloth merchant, he wants pleasure and variety but finally suffers when his wife withdraws her love.
- JacintaJuanito's gentle cousin and wife, she wants a child more than anything and slowly learns about her husband's past.
- FortunataA proud woman from the egg stalls who cannot read, she wants an honest home and the man she loves, and cannot have both.
- Barbarita ArnaizJuanito's devoted mother, a shopper and a church-goer who wants to protect her son and arranges his marriage.
- Maximiliano RubínA frail pharmacy student who falls for Fortunata and wants to save her, hoping to prove himself a man.
- Doña LupeMaxi's aunt, a thrifty widow and moneylender who rules her household and wants to shape everyone to her design.
- Plácido EstupiñáA talkative, devout old Madrid man who gathers gossip for the Santa Cruz family and wants to be useful.
- Guillermina PachecoA small, determined woman who begs and scolds to build an orphanage for poor children.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 9 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
Fortunata und Jacinta
by Benito Pérez Galdós · 1887
A mother who knows no Latin translates her son's homework, and a city's two married women wait for him.
ChallengingOver 20 hours to readDeutsch
Excellent
- Read or listen
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
Picture a mother who has never learned a word of Latin, translating her son's Latin exercises every night with fearless invention. That is Barbarita Arnaiz, and the boy is Juanito Santa Cruz, the handsome only child of a rich Madrid cloth merchant.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Juanito Santa Cruz grows up adored
Galdós opens with Juanito, the charming center around whom everyone else will turn. During a riot he is swept into a police chain and held for more than twenty hours, until his respected father gets him out.
His parents adore him. Barbarita fires questions at him when he comes home late, asking where he has been and why he smells of perfume. Don Baldomero laughs her fears away, for he remembers his own shy youth and decides that young men should see the world.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 9 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1887
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 28 h 35 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Pérez Galdós, Benito. Fortunata and Jacinta. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/fortunata-and-jacinta.
Pérez Galdós, B. (2026). Fortunata and Jacinta. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/fortunata-and-jacinta (Original work published 1887)
Pérez Galdós, Benito. Fortunata and Jacinta. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/fortunata-and-jacinta.
@book{perezgaldos2026fortunata,
author = {Pérez Galdós, Benito},
title = {Fortunata and Jacinta},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/fortunata-and-jacinta},
note = {First published 1887}
}
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Fortunata und Jacinta
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Fortunata and Jacinta about?
It follows two women in nineteenth-century Madrid, the wife Jacinta and Fortunata, a woman of the people, who both love Juanito Santa Cruz. Around them it pictures families, marriages, money, religion and the city's changing life.
Who are Fortunata and Jacinta in the novel?
Jacinta is Juanito Santa Cruz's cousin and wife, living in comfort after marriage and longing for a child. Fortunata is a poor, spirited woman from the market stalls whom Juanito once loved and left, and who later marries Maximiliano Rubín.
Why is Juanito Santa Cruz called the Delfín?
Delfín means Dauphin, the heir to a throne. The nickname shows that Juanito is the adored only son, the crown prince of his family, whom everyone indulges and whose wishes shape the household.
The author
Benito Pérez Galdós
1843–1920 · Spanish realist novelist
Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920) was a Spanish novelist and playwright. He was born in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and moved to Madrid in 1862. He wrote Marianela (1878), Fortunata and Jacinta (1886–1887), and Miau (1888), as well as the historical novel series Episodios nacionales. He died in Madrid.
More by Benito Pérez Galdós
All 7 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
