Spanish writer Galdós (1843-1920) was a avid student of the novel as it appeared in French, English, and Russian during his early life, and made considerable contribution to the development of the genre with 25 novels of his own, beginning with Doña Perfecta (1876). In his introduction, Graham Whittaker (languages, Lees Brook Community Sports College) explains that though the novel was popular with general readers, it was not well received by critics and scholars because it dealt with the middle class, which the educated elite had already written off as boring. This edition includes the Spanish and English translation on facing pages, and voluminous end notes as well as the introduction. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)