A 1895 novel by the great Spanish realist (1843-1920) portrays in both ironical and reverent tones the life of a defrocked prist, Nazario ZaharÃn (or NazarÃn), who hits the road and undertakes to emulate the life of Christ. Accompanied by a pair of devoted whores, the exuberantly innocent Father NazarÃn encounters a bevy of unregenerate humanity in whose essential goodness he stalwartly believes, despite the betrayals and abuses heaped upon him. One of Gald¢s's most daring challenges to his culture's complacent morality, this teasing fiction never reveals whether its Quixotean hero is a lunatic, or a visionary sustained by a special state of grace. It's a wonderful novel and a perfect introduction to the work of a major 19th-century writer.