The Espinas publishing house, which recovers texts by forgotten women authors, publishes 'María Magdalena,' by Matilde Cherner, written using the pseudonym of Rafael Luna. It is a story starring a young orphan girl captured by a pimp.

“María Magdalena” was published in 1880, a year before “La desheredada,” the first title in the cycle of contemporary Spanish novels by Benito Pérez Galdós, which narrates the misfortunes of Isadora, a young woman who emigrates to the big city full of hope and ends up being prostituted and in jail.  In Cherner’s (always using the male pseudonym) book, Magdalena is left an orphan and, ready to commit suicide when she finds herself alone and penniless.  She ends up being picked up from the streets by La Celestina, a madam known to all the students at the University of Salamanca, her regular customers, who will force her into prostitution for years before her destiny changes, and not necessarily for the better.

Continue reading here