Summary
Summary of Mother Nature
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Nature shelters a changing bond
Caught in a summer storm, Perucho and Manuela shelter first beneath a chestnut tree, then in an abandoned quarry filled with green life. They have grown up together like brother and sister, sharing food, games and beds of straw. Now their familiar closeness is turning into something neither has named.
As insects move among the leaves and a rainbow rises over the hills, nature seems to draw them together. Before they speak of love, the countryside has already become their shelter, teacher and accomplice.
Key idea 2
Nature may not care for us
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Key idea 3
A stranger hears the family gossip
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Key idea 4
Gabriel hopes to build a family
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Key idea 5
Gabriel enters an uneasy household
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Key idea 6
The young people choose each other
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Key idea 7
Suspicion turns Gabriel against nature
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Key idea 8
Anger meets Perucho's account of love
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Key idea 9
Love exceeds Gabriel's search for certainty
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
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 this book is
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. The author wrote it as a study of how country life, family secrets and the pull of nature shape ordinary people.
The book follows two young people raised side by side on a decaying manor estate, and the stranger who arrives to change their lives. It gives you a vivid country world: threshing floors, sunken lanes, stagecoaches, bone-setters and village gossip, all drawn with a naturalist's eye for detail. It also gives you an idealist soldier, Gabriel Pardo, who has tried philosophy, science and love and found none of them certain.
The story begins with a summer storm, a hiding place in an old quarry and a rainbow over the hills. From there it moves to a drunken healer who preaches that everything in the world is one great thing. That speech is the first key point, because it sets the question the whole book keeps asking about nature.
In this summary
- 1A storm, a cave and a rainbowFree
- 2The bone-setter and the big thing
- 3A coach, a gossip and a stranger
- 4Gabriel's long road to Galicia
- 5Arrival at the Pazos de Ulloa
- 6The priest, the cemetery and a vow
- 7Jealousy, suspicion and the cemetery gate
- 8The fight in the parlor
- 9Nature, guilt and the choice of love
Key point 1 of 9
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.
The grotto is full of ferns, spiders, ants and insects that mate and die in the leaves. Manuela watches these small scenes of nature with a shiver. When the rain stops, a vivid rainbow rises over the peak of Pico Medelo, and the pair draw close to each other without a word.
The rainbow slowly drifts across the valley and fades. Pardo Bazán uses the scene to plant the central idea of the book. Nature is shown as the shelter, the teacher and the accomplice of these two young people, and she lets the reader feel its power before any word of love is spoken.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
What question does the bone-setter's speech raise about nature?
Right. “The drunken speech gives the novel its title and its question: is nature a loving mother, or something that does not care about us?”Not quite. “The drunken speech gives the novel its title and its question: is nature a loving mother, or something that does not care about us?”
What does Gabriel decide after finding Marcelina's letter?
Right. “Gabriel resolves to marry his niece, protect her and build the family he has never had.”Not quite. “Gabriel resolves to marry his niece, protect her and build the family he has never had.”
How does Perucho explain his feelings to Manuela?
Right. “Perucho, jealous of the uncle, tells her he loves her as a man loves a sweetheart, not as a brother.”Not quite. “Perucho, jealous of the uncle, tells her he loves her as a man loves a sweetheart, not as a brother.”
Questions about Mother Nature
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.
Who is Señor Antón the bone-setter?
He is a village healer in a top hat who treats cows and people alike with the same razor. His drunken speech about one great big thing, which links men, cabbages and stars, sets the book's theme.
Is Mother Nature easy to read?
It has a clear story, lively dialogue and vivid country scenes. The characters are memorable, and the humor of Juncal and the bone-setter keeps the pages moving.
