10 h 13 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the countryside that shelters young love cannot protect it from the secrets of a family?
On a country estate in Galicia, Manuela and another young person grow close among woods, fields, plants, and animals. She belongs to the landowning family, but their shared world seems far from questions of rank. Paths offer escape from adult supervision, while affection grows within a household whose past still shapes the present.
Then Gabriel, Manuela’s uncle and the brother of her dead mother, arrives with hopes for his niece’s future. His expectations meet a world of young desire, family obligations, and unequal relationships. In Mother Nature, Emilia Pardo Bazán returns to the estate of The House of Ulloa, asking whether instinct alone can guide a human life.
What you’ll discover
- Love among the fields Follow a growing attachment through a countryside known by touch, movement, and close attention.
- A household with secrets Discover how family history weighs on young people who do not yet fully understand it.
- An uncle’s different hopes Meet Gabriel, whose plans for Manuela bring another understanding of her future into the estate.
- The boundaries of class See how ties between landowners, servants, parents, and children shape the possibilities of love.
- Nature and moral choice Explore the distance between the natural world’s apparent innocence and the obligations of human lives.
Who will love it
Readers who like rich landscapes, family drama and country customs, and who enjoy a thoughtful hero who argues with himself. It suits anyone curious about nineteenth-century Spain and the way nature and upbringing shape love.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A storm, a cave and a rainbow
- The bone-setter and the big thing
- A coach, a gossip and a stranger
- Gabriel's long road to Galicia
- Arrival at the Pazos de Ulloa
- The priest, the cemetery and a vow
- Jealousy, suspicion and the cemetery gate
- The fight and the terrible truth
- Nature, guilt and the choice of love
Who’s who
- Gabriel PardoAn artillery major and dreamer, brother of the late Marcelina, who comes to Galicia meaning to marry his niece and keep a promise.
- ManuelaCalled Manolita, the marquis's daughter, a lively mountain girl raised wild on the estate, devoted to her childhood friend Perucho.
- PeruchoSabel's son, a strong, handsome student home from Ourense, who loves Manuela and fears losing her to a gentleman.
- Marquis of UlloaDon Pedro Moscoso, a gouty, coarse country squire who is losing his strength and cares most for the boy he calls godson.
- GalloÁngel de Naya, a former bagpiper turned steward, who dreams of rising in society and of seeing the boy made an heir.
- Máximo JuncalThe doctor of Cebre, a cheerful priest-hater who becomes Gabriel's devoted friend and helps him through the crisis.
- Don JuliánThe austere priest of Ulloa, a man of deep faith and silent grief who prays at the cemetery and shuns the Pazos.
- Señor AntónThe bone-setter of Boán, a drunken healer who treats beasts and people alike and preaches that all is one big thing.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 10 h 13 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 12 minutes, to read or to hear.
- 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.
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Read and hear Madre Natura in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Madre Natura
by Emilia Pardo Bazán · 1887
A thunderstorm shelters two inseparable teenagers in a cave, while a stagecoach brings an uncle toward the Pazos.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Mother Nature is a novel by Emilia Pardo Bazán, the second half of the story that began in The House of Ulloa. It is set in rural Galicia, in northwest Spain, in the years after the Spanish revolution of 1868.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A storm, a cave and a rainbow
The novel opens in a summer downpour. A boy and a girl take shelter under a huge chestnut tree, then run to an abandoned slate quarry that has turned into a green, steamy grotto. The boy is Perucho, home for the holidays from school in Ourense. The girl is Manuela, called Manolita, the daughter of the Marquis of Ulloa.
The two have grown up together like brother and sister, sharing bread, cherries and straw beds in the barns. This summer something has changed. She goes quiet and studies his face when he is not looking. He treats her with tenderness where before he teased and fought.
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What is Mother Nature by Emilia Pardo Bazán about?
It follows Gabriel Pardo, who comes to rural Galicia to marry his niece Manuela. He finds her bound to her childhood friend Perucho, and a family secret makes their closeness dangerous for everyone.
Is Mother Nature a sequel to The House of Ulloa?
Yes. It continues the story of the Ulloa family and its manor, the Pazos. It centers on the children of the first book, so the plot is easy to follow with the background the early chapters supply.
What does the title Mother Nature mean?
It points to the book's question of whether nature shelters us or is indifferent to us. The bone-setter, the lovers and Gabriel each hear nature speak differently, and the ending answers with a bitter turn.
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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