An illustrated, abridged version of the Shakespeare tragedy with background information and explanatory stage directions In a South American seaport town, during the colonial era, when the division between the rich and the poor, the church and the state, and the saint and the demon were absolute, and people strutted and fretted about appropriately, 12-year-old Mari{¡}a de Todos los Angeles, daughter of the marquis de Casalduero and his wife, the flatulent Bernarda Cabrera, meets with the misfortune of being bitten by an ash gray dog with a white blaze on its forehead. When it is learned that the dog is rabid, Mari{¡}a's inevitable destruction begins. Through rumor, superstition, and the ghosts of her family's misbegotten past, it is assumed that Mari{¡}a will have rabies. When the problem comes to the attention of the ultimate authority, the bishop, high-born Mari{¡}a must be handed over to the Church for exorcism, for rabies in this time of love and demons means inevitable possession. Her only hope is Father Cayetano Delaura, her exorcist, a 36-year-old priest with a streak of white hair at his forehead, who falls in love with her before meeting her. Gabriel (One Hundred Years of Solitude) Ma{ }rquez's new fantastic novel is farcical, incredible, malicious, and sadistic. Magical unrealism. A timeless artist, an old master, unraveling the mysteries of life, again. Collette de Sac --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.