Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor (1899) is a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós. Published at the height of Pérez Galdós’ career, Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor is the sixth in of 46 historical novels in the author’s monumental, career spanning series of National Episodes. Set during the bloody naval battle of Trafalgar in 1805, Pérez Galdós’ novel is a story of heroism, growth, and adventure that manages to find humanity in history. “It was, I believe, the evening of the eighteenth when we saw Saragossa in the distance. As we entered by the Puerta de Sancho we heard the clock in the Torre Nueva strike ten. We were in an extremely pitiful condition as to food and clothing. The long journey we had made […], climbing mountains, fording rivers, making short cuts until we arrived at the high road of Gallur and Alagon, had left us quite used up, worn out, and ill with fatigue.” Having survived the disastrous defeat of the Spanish Armada at Trafalgar by the British Royal Navy, Gabriel de Araceli makes his way to Saragossa. There, he must fight for his life and the future of his nation as the army of Napoleon Bonaparte lays siege to the city. Painstakingly researched by its author, Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor is a detailed fictional retelling of one history’s most iconic conflicts. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Benito Pérez Galdós’s Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor is a classic of Spanish literature reimagined for modern readers.
