By the Spirit Count of Rochester / Vera Kryzhanovskaia
Librería Samer Atenea
Kálamo Books
Librería Elías (Asturias)
Librería Kolima (Madrid)
Librería Proteo (Málaga)
Set in the late 18th century across Spain and Cuba, Dolores is a captivating mediumistic romance dictated by the spirit J.W. Rochester, exploring the profound spiritual laws of action, reaction, and redemption. The story follows the aristocratic Mornos family of Toledo, who are facing absolute financial ruin. To save her father, Count Pedro, and her ambitious, proud brother, Ramiro, the young and beautiful Dolores is forced into a devastating sacrifice: she must travel to Cuba to marry José, the illegitimate mixed-race son of her estranged, millionaire uncle, Fernando Martínez.During the perilous voyage, Dolores falls deeply in love with the ship’s noble captain, Alfonso Vasconcelos. Despite their mutual passion, she remains resolved to fulfill her duty. Upon arriving in Cuba, Dolores and José immediately clash. José is a proud, embittered man who resents his illegitimacy and seeks to humiliate the aristocratic family that once shunned him, while Dolores is repulsed by his arrogance and cruelty, choosing instead to become a beloved protector of the plantation’s slaves. Tensions boil over, but as Uncle Fernando lies dying, the two are forced into a hasty, loveless marriage. Unwilling to endure the union, Dolores leaves a scathing note and attempts suicide by cutting her wrists immediately after the ceremony.Following Fernando’s death, a sinister betrayal unfolds. Ramiro, having secretly traveled to Cuba, conspires with the corrupt estate manager, Bartolomeo Janto, to steal and destroy the legal documents that legitimized José. Stripped of his rights, the law declares José a slave. He is stripped of his wealth and subjected to brutal whippings and forced labor in the cane fields by his own former slaves, under Ramiro’s cruel orders. Driven mad by humiliation, José escapes on the night Dolores (whose memory was temporarily erased by her trauma) is secretly about to marry her true love, Alfonso. Seeking ultimate vengeance, José breaks into their honeymoon suite, stabs Alfonso, and violates Dolores before fleeing into the jungle.The aftermath leaves the family shattered. Alfonso survives but leaves Cuba, while Dolores temporarily loses her mind and gives birth to José’s son. Eventually, Dolores discovers Ramiro’s horrific theft of the inheritance. When José is captured and sentenced to hang, a guilt-ridden Dolores orchestrates his escape, providing him with money and new identity papers, and sending him to Europe.Years later, after Alfonso returns only to tragically drown in a shipwreck, a fading Dolores lives in isolation. On her deathbed, she calls for a confessor, only to discover the Dominican monk who arrives is José. Having found faith, José remains by her side. Dolores returns the certified copies of the stolen documents that prove his rights, begging him to forgive her brother and forsake revenge. José renounces his vengeance, and the two fully reconcile before she passes away. The novel concludes with José living out his final days as a penitent hermit, awaiting the spiritual reckoning of the Final Judgment.
