I quite like the prose in the book and the plot was relatively enticing- priests, a mysterious girl, demons, exorcism, mysticism....
It did get a little creepy at some parts of the book yet there's a hint of romanticism as well, albeit a strange one.
The book opened with a foreword by the author himself, recounting a visit he made to the burial crypts of the convent of Santa Clara. Tombs were being hacked and remains were to be transferred to a common grave. He was taken aback by one of the crypts, when upon hacking, a stream of vibrant copper hair flowed out. The hair measured more than 22 meters long and belonged to a girl named Sierva Maria de Todos Los Angeles. This Sierva Maria became the title character of the book.
Sierva was a beautiful, enchanting girl who was bitten by a dog who was later found to carry the rabies virus.
After being seen by a multitude of physicians, mystic healers, pharmacists, she was suspected to be demon-possessed. This brought the intervention of the bishop and his assistant (for lack of a better word), Father Cayetano Delaura, a learned man who loved books. Sierva Maria was brought to the convent of Santa Clara and locked up in a cell, to await her exorcism. Cayetano was tasked to do the job. However, he began to fall for the wiles of Sierva and began to desire her so much that he was ready to give up his priesthood.
He was constantly tormented by the images of Sierva Maria, eventually he began stealing into her cell and spending time with her reading poetries and in each other's arms.
We couldn't be quite sure if Sierva Maria was truly possessed or if it was superstitions at work. At one part of the story, her hair coiled like serpents and she spewed green spittle and displayed an insurmountable strength, leading Cayetano to despair at the fact that she truly was a demon.
Yet he was unable to free himself from her. Cayetano was then banished to a hospital for lepers and never was he able to return to Sierva Maria. Sierva Maria waited in vain for him and eventually died of what I supposed was starvation and sadness.
On her deathbed, Maria looked radiant and lovely copper hair sprung from her shaved head mysteriously.
A very strange story but captivating nonetheless.
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