Awakening of Miss Prim

The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia Sanmartin Fenorella, 258 pages

Like any fundamentally sensible person, Prudencia Prim does not much care for the modern world.  It is too ugly, too noisy, too superficial - greedy, stupid and tasteless.  She prefers the quiet, well-ordered harmony of a good library to the hustle and bustle of an office or even a classroom.  Thus, she applies for a job putting into order the library of a gentleman living a retired life in the village of San Ireneo de Arnois, even though she has a PhD in sociology and the advertisement explicitly states "Graduates and postgraduates need not apply."  Then there are the children - Prudencia doesn't much care for them, and the gentleman, although a bachelor, is raising a number of nephews and nieces.  And there are the dogs, for although of course Prudencia loves animals, she prefers them in the abstract.  Children and animals, after all, tend to destroy peace and quiet.  But Prudencia is about to learn that beauty and harmony are not things she makes to fit herself, but rather things she must fit herself to.

The Awakening of Miss Prim is a curiously undramatic novel.  The plot develops gradually, organically, in a manner that beautifully reflects the themes of the novel.