Of Love and Other Demons

A hauntingly atmospheric novel set in a colonial South American seaport, exploring the volatile intersections of religious fanaticism, cultural displacement, and forbidden passion. The story begins when Sierva María de Todos los Ángeles, the neglected twelve-year-old daughter of a decadent marquis, is bitten by a rabid ash-colored dog. Though she shows no actual symptoms of rabies, her unusual upbringing—having been raised almost entirely by the household's African slaves, speaking their languages, and wearing their sacred beads—leads the local superstitious society and the Catholic Church to believe she is possessed by evil spirits.

In an effort to save her soul, her father confines her to a cloistered convent, where she is subjected to harsh exorcism rituals. The bishop assigns a brilliant but deeply repressed young priest, Father Cayetano Delaura, to oversee her spiritual cleansing. However, as Delaura spends more time with the lonely, misunderstood girl, the dynamic shifts from spiritual warfare to a profound, consuming, and tragic connection.