This is an astonishing portrait of the violence and abuse heaped upon an innocent and helpless 12-year-old girl by an intolerant and cruel Catholic church in a South American seaport during the 1740s. Sierva Maria, the child of a melancholy marquis and his irresponsible wife, is raised by the family's West Indian slaves who initiate her into Yoruban religious practices such as drinking rooster's blood before breakfast and dancing in frenzied abandon. After she is bitten by a rabid dog, the Bishop decides that Sierva Maria is possessed by demons. The terrified girl is imprisoned in a convent where Father Delaura sets out to perform an exorcism. But the bookish priest, who has a secret fondness for forbidden books of courtly romance, falls in love with Sierva Maria and her long hair "that trailed after her like a queen's mantle." Even this bold act of defiance cannot stop the inexorable mission of the church to stamp out evil. The magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's writing lends this drama appropriate drama and dignity. He helps us see that spirit is what remains when intangibles such as love and power clash.