Sotileza

by José María de Pereda

"Sotileza" by José María de Pereda is a novel published in 1885. Set in the maritime neighborhoods of mid-nineteenth-century Santander, it follows a young orphan girl nicknamed Sotileza who escapes her abusive foster family to live among street children called "raqueros." When a kind fisherman couple takes her in, she begins a new life, while navigating relationships with her childhood companions and a middle-class boy named Andrés. The novel captures a disappearing way of life among fishing families through richly drawn characters and local detail.