A bestseller in its time with four published editions, Blanca Sol (1889) was a highly controversial novel when it first appeared. Thought by many to be a roman a clef about a well-known woman of Lima's high society, Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera (1842-1909) distanced herself from this criticism by making substantial changes for the second edition and by including a prologue stating her intentions of writing a realist novel, a social novel, inspired in reality, but not a copy. With a well earned reputation as an outspoken feminist writer and contributor to cultural journals in Peru and abroad...

Eleodora (1887) and Las consecuencias (1889) conform a singular example within Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera's (1842- 1909) literary production, Though the usual critique tend to consider both as the same novel, because they share the same plot, there are manifold reasons to differentiate them, including their respective placements in different stages of the author's production. The former stands closer to the romantic drama, whilst the latter shows the marked naturalistic influence of the author's latest novels. Eleodora and Las consecuencias may be regarded as a rewriting process, thus...