5 h 58 minAudiobook8 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 happens when a grumpy soldier meets a young woman with the courage to be kind?
In Captain Poison, Pedro Antonio de Alarcón brings a grumpy soldier and a courageous young woman into a classic Spanish novel of romance and humour. Their contrasting temperaments place kindness at the heart of a story about unexpected possibilities.
The soldier’s grumpiness and the young woman’s courage give you two very different people to discover. Romance, humour, and satire shape the invitation: look beyond a difficult manner, and consider the unexpected power of kindness without mistaking it for weakness.
What you’ll discover
- A grumpy soldier Meet a central figure whose difficult temperament gives this romance its distinctive edge.
- A courageous young woman Discover a heroine who brings courage to a story shaped by contrasting temperaments.
- Kindness with unexpected power Explore kindness as a force worth noticing, rather than a quality to overlook.
- Romance meets humour Find a Spanish novel that brings romantic interest together with humour and satire.
- An unlikely contrast Let grumpiness and courage draw you toward the possibilities between two different people.
Who will love it
Readers who love a spiky hero with a soft heart, quick banter between a man and a woman who match each other, and warm comedy set in nineteenth century Madrid.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A street fight and a rescue
- A patient who hates being cared for
- The marquis tells the captain's story
- Cards, quarrels and a growing tenderness
- What the story is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Jorge de Córdoba, Captain PoisonA fortyish army officer with a ferocious temper who claims to hate kindness, women and favours, and who is wounded in the street fight.
- AngustiasThe brave, calm, good humoured young woman who rescues the wounded captain and is the only person who can make him lose at cards.
- Doña TeresaAngustias's widowed mother, a proud Basque lady who calls herself Countess and General's widow and gives her last means to care for the stranger.
- RosaThe talkative Galician maid who fears gunfire, loves a gold coin, and tells the captain every secret of the house.
- Marquis of TomillaresDon Álvaro, the captain's elderly cousin, a courteous senator who loves speeches and secretly plans to leave him his fortune.
- Doctor SánchezThe skilled neighbourhood physician who sets the captain's leg and has a habit of stating the obvious with great solemnity.
Formats and delivery
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- Audiobook
- 5 h 58 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 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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25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Captain Poison 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.
Captain Poison
by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón · 1881
A scowling captain with a broken leg meets a calm young woman who smiles at every insult in 1848 Madrid.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Captain Poison is a short Spanish novel by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, published in 1881. It is set in Madrid in 1848, in the smoke of a street rising against the crown.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A street fight and a rescue
On the afternoon of 26 March 1848, republicans and royal soldiers shoot at each other in the narrow streets around the Puerta del Sol in Madrid. In a modest ground floor flat on Preciados Street live three women. They are a proud widow from the Basque country, her daughter Angustias, and their maid Rosa, who comes from Galicia.
The narrator takes a moment to describe Angustias. She is not a showy beauty. She is balanced, simple and sensible, and her charm grows on you slowly, the way a well proportioned building does. She is also braver than her mother and the maid, and she keeps slipping to the window to watch the fight.
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What is Captain Poison about?
It tells of a gruff army captain wounded in a street fight in Madrid in 1848 and nursed by a widow, her daughter Angustias and their maid. He claims to hate kindness, but the women slowly change him.
Why is he called Captain Poison?
The nickname comes from the men at his club and cafés, who see him always in a rage and ready to fight over nothing. In truth he is honourable, shy of women and kind underneath.
Who is Angustias in Captain Poison?
She is the young Madrid woman who sees the captain fall, helps carry him home and crosses a gunfire swept street for a doctor. She is calm, witty and the only person who is not frightened by his temper.
The author
Pedro Antonio de Alarcón
1833–1891 · Spanish novelist
Pedro Antonio de Alarcón was a Spanish novelist born in Guadix in 1833. He wrote novels, short stories, and travel accounts. His works include The Three-Cornered Hat, published in 1874, and The Scandal, published in 1875. He also worked as a journalist and politician. He died in Madrid in 1891.
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