Tristana (1892)

Tristana wants an independent life, but her choices are constrained by a guardian who is also her lover and by the practical costs of freedom. Galdós lets generosity coexist with predation, and aspiration with self-deception. Choose Margaret Jull Costa's 2014 NYRB translation of the 1892 novel. Her attempt to educate herself makes the gap between having talents and having room to use them painfully concrete.