9 h 19 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 19 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can a gentle man change in a house where fear carries more weight than faith?
In Emilia Pardo Bazán’s The House of Ulloa, young priest Julián Álvarez arrives at a decaying manor in rural Galicia. He hopes to bring order and decency. But Don Pedro Moscoso, the Marquis of Ulloa, carries the title while his quiet, shrewd steward Primitivo controls the land, the tenants and the money.
Julián sees a household ruled by habit and appetite, and believes marriage might steady the Marquis. Nucha hopes for the shelter of a calm home, but Ulloa offers cold rooms and people who resist change. Beyond its walls, landowners, lawyers and stewards trade favors, making private struggles part of a wider world of influence.
What you’ll discover
- A house that rules Enter a decaying Galician manor where the surroundings shape the lives within its walls.
- Power behind the title Watch Primitivo hold practical control while the proud Marquis struggles to govern his own household.
- Good intentions under pressure Follow Julián as his sincere hopes meet habits that resist both counsel and correction.
- A home without shelter Feel the distance between Nucha’s hope for peace and the hard household she enters.
- The reach of influence See how favors and local power shape a district where elections offer little real choice.
Who will love it
This is for readers who love a richly drawn setting, a house full of secrets and a story that mixes comedy, local politics and quiet suspense. It suits anyone drawn to Spanish life.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A timid priest rides toward Ulloa
- The first supper shows who rules
- The family papers tell a story of ruin
- Winter closes in around the chaplain
- A feast, a secret and a shotgun
- The marquis goes to Santiago for a wife
- The bride comes home to the old den
- A hard birth brings a daughter
- Fear grows inside the ancestral house
- An election turns the manor into a battlefield
- A wife asks the chaplain for help
Who’s who
- Julián ÁlvarezA gentle, timid young priest who becomes chaplain at the Pazos and tries to bring order and goodness to a house that resists both.
- Don Pedro MoscosoThe young lord of Ulloa, a strong, impulsive hunter who wants a legitimate son and cannot control his own household.
- PrimitivoThe lean, cunning head huntsman who quietly rules servants, tenants and money, and who wants to keep his hold on the house.
- SabelPrimitivo's daughter, the cook and Don Pedro's mistress, who wants freedom and a life of her own.
- NuchaMarcelina de la Lage, the quiet, pious cousin who marries Don Pedro and longs for peace and the safety of her child.
- PeruchoSabel's beautiful, mischievous son, raised among dogs and cows, who loves anyone who is kind to him.
- Máximo JuncalThe doctor from Cebre, a quarrelsome, rum loving believer in hygiene and science who speaks his mind about the Pazos.
- Don EugenioThe cheerful priest of Naya, Julián's friend, who loves jokes, hunting and gossip and says what he knows only with a laugh.
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La casa de Ulloa
by Emilia Pardo Bazán · 1886
A timid young priest rides into a crumbling Galician manor where the servants rule and the master hunts.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEspañol
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In short
Picture a young priest on a stubborn nag, his new black gloves scraped raw, asking every stranger how far it is to the house of the Marquis of Ulloa. One person says just a little bit.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A timid priest rides toward Ulloa
The novel opens on a road. Julián Álvarez, a slight young priest in new black gloves, rides a shaggy nag toward the manor of Ulloa. A road worker says it is just a little bit farther. A woman nursing a baby says it is a dog's run.
Near a stone cross, two gunshots make the horse bolt. Three hunters come down the slope. The tall, bearded one is Don Pedro Moscoso, the young lord of the manor. With him walk Primitivo, a lean huntsman with cunning eyes, and the abbot of Ulloa, a gruff priest who makes a joke of Julián's gloves and girlish face.
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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
- 1886
- Language
- Español
- Reading time
- 6 h 5 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Pardo Bazán, Emilia. The House of Ulloa. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-of-ulloa.
Pardo Bazán, E. (2026). The house of Ulloa. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-of-ulloa (Original work published 1886)
Pardo Bazán, Emilia. The House of Ulloa. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-of-ulloa.
@book{pardobazan2026house,
author = {Pardo Bazán, Emilia},
title = {The House of Ulloa},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-house-of-ulloa},
note = {First published 1886}
}
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What is The House of Ulloa about?
It tells of a gentle young priest, Julián, who becomes chaplain at a decaying manor in rural Galicia. There he faces a violent young lord, a scheming huntsman, and a lord's frail wife, in a house full of secrets.
Who is Primitivo in The House of Ulloa?
Primitivo is the head huntsman at the manor and the father of the cook Sabel. He is cunning, calm and ruthless, and he holds more real power over tenants, servants and money than the marquis himself.
Is the Marquis of Ulloa a real marquis?
Not quite. The villagers call Don Pedro Moscoso marquis because his house gave its name to the title. The legal holder of the title is a grandee in Madrid, a joke the novel returns to often.
The author
Emilia Pardo Bazán
1851–1921 · Spanish novelist and essayist
Emilia Pardo Bazán was a Spanish novelist, short-story writer and editor. She was born in A Coruña in 1851 and died in Madrid in 1921. She wrote The House of Ulloa, published in 1886, and Mother Nature, published in 1887. She lived in Galicia and Madrid.
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