Line #18 Literature/TheHouseOfTheSpirits


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6	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/10b709a051974f63361adae6732082c3.jpg]]
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8	''The House of the Spirits'' is a 1982 novel, Creator/IsabelAllende's first and most famous.
9
10	The book deals with the members of the Trueba family, their growth, their rise and eventually their downfall. Esteban Trueba, an ultra-conservative landowner, marries the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Clara del Valle, with whom he has three kids, Blanca and the twins Nicolás and Jaime. Trueba builds his fortune through his farm Las Tres Marías, but this, coupled with his political views, throw a few wrenches in the wheels of his family. Drama ensues.
11
12	It sounds like your usual family drama. Well, that's because it is. Of course, all this is analyzed through three generations of Truebas, all this laced with political unrest, an earthquake and a coup d'état, between other stuff that happen in Chile... er, I mean, [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed some nameless Latin American country]].
13
14	It spawned a film adaptation in 1993, featuring an AllStarCast (Creator/JeremyIrons, Creator/WinonaRyder, Creator/MerylStreep, Creator/AntonioBanderas, Creator/GlennClose, Creator/VanessaRedgrave).
15	----
16	!!This novel provides examples of:
17
18	* AdaptationDistillation: The movie cuts A LOT of characters. ({{Justified\|Trope}}, since they are so many, but still).
19	* AllMenArePerverts: Esteban Trueba is the main culprit here, but it can be noticed with a majority of the male characters.
20	* AllWomenArePrudes: There's exactly ''one'' female character who gives an indication of actually liking sex. Clara gets to the point where she just thinks it's boring. Blanca enjoys making love to Pedro Tercero but after [[spoiler: she gets pregnant and is forced to marry Jean de Satigny, she can't think of having sex with anyone else.]] Alba is shown as having a really good sex life with her boyfriend Miguel, [[spoiler: and then she's sexually abused to the extreme by her evil cousin.]]
21	* AloofBigSister: Férula and Esteban aren't all that close.
22	* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Blanca is described as having dark hair and as being aloof in her youth, though she mellows out in her later years.
23	* ArmiesAreEvil: The Army of the unnamed Latin American country (that rather transparently is all but stated to be Chile) is portrayed as evil. Considering that in the novel they engineered that coup d'état and brutally supressed dissidents, this is understandably justified.
24	* AttractivenessIsolation: Early in the book, Esteban becomes the official fiancé of WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Rosa purely by being the first man able to work up the courage to propose. Everyone else seemingly considered her to be too far out of their league to even ask her out.
25	* AuthorTract: Author Isabel Allende is the niece of Salvador Allende, the president of Chile who was overthrown in a coup d'état, which makes the novel's very clear point that "coups are bad" rather understandable.
26	* BabiesEverAfter: {{Subverted\|Trope}}. [[spoiler:Alba ends up pregnant, but she doesn't know if the baby is by her boyfriend or her bastard cousin, who raped her repeatedly. She thinks about it and decides that it's ''her'' baby after all, so it'll work somehow.]]
27	* BananaRepublic: The novel is set in Chi... some unnamed Latin American country that later in the story goes under a dictatorship.
28	* BastardBastard: Esteban García is such a ''[[SarcasmMode fine]]'' illegitimate child that he could compete with [[Series/GameOfThrones Ramsay Bolton]]. [[{{Irony}} Ironically]], he's more like Esteban Trueba than any of Trueba's legitimate progeny, embodying all of Trueba's worst qualities.
29	* BerserkButton: Don't talk to Esteban about communist ideals. Don't even dream to discuss his methods with his servants and peasants. Don't discuss anything he doesn't like, [[HairTriggerTemper really]].
30	* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Truebas/García are such a big screwed-up family that it plays both the humorous side and the tragic side of this trope.
31	* BittersweetEnding: By the end of the book, [[spoiler:almost the whole family is dead (Jaime, Clara, Esteban Trueba himself) or in exile (Blanca, Pedro Tercero, Nicolás). And so are their friends (Amanda). But at least Alba is free from the military and has hopes for a good future as she rests from her ordeals and waits for Miguel's return.]]
32	* BookEnds: The book starts with Clara as a kid writing in her life book. [[spoiler: Alba is reading the same "book" in the end.]]
33	** The CycleOfRevenge mentioned below is a dark example: [[spoiler:It begins and ends with a man named Esteban raping a woman.]]
34	* BreakTheHaughty: The second part of the book completely '''smashes''' Esteban Trueba's whole world, as punishment for all of his sins. Taken to extremes when [[spoiler:he goes to his old friend Tránsito Soto and actually ''weeps'' when begging her to save Alba.]]
35	%%* BrokenBird: Amanda. [[TheWoobie Oh, Amanda.]]
36	* BuryYourGays: The two most prominent gay characters (one of them is simply heavily implied) die way before the end of the novel.
37	%%* CampGay: [[spoiler: Jean de Satigny.]] So much.
38	* CerebusSyndrome: Though it's not outright comedy, the book starts with fairly happy episodes. After the coup d'état, the country starts to look like {{Mordor}}, and everything becomes DarkerAndEdgier.
39	%%* ChekhovsArmy
40	* ChekhovsGunman: Tránsito Soto, Miguel, Esteban García, etc.
41	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}:
42	** Clara del Valle is clairvoyant, barely aware of the material world, and sporadically attentive to it.
43	** Clara's older sister Rosa also was pretty... off. Nivea was seriously worried that the girl wouldn't ever do anything but sewing.
44	* ChildByRape:
45	** Possibly the case with [[spoiler: Alba's baby]]. Also poor Ana Díaz's aborted child.
46	** Also the case with many bastard sons fathered by Esteban Trueba, up to and including Esteban García's father.
47	* ChildhoodFriendRomance:
48	** Blanca and Pedro Tercero, who were used to [[SleepsInTheNude sleeping naked]] together since ''early childhood''. An entire chapter contains their growing romance.
49	** In a roundabout way, [[spoiler: Alba and Miguel. Since his older sister Amanda was among those who helped Blanca when she was giving birth to Alba in the Trueba home, Miguel managed to slip inside the room and was present when Alba came into the world.]]
50	* ColdBloodedTorture: What happens to any dissident the military police gets its hands on after the MilitaryCoup. [[spoiler: Very realistically portrayed with Alba's experience in the clutches of now-powerful officer Esteban García]].
51	* CoolUncle: Uncle Marcos is one to Clara as a child. Jaime also is this and a ParentalSubstitute to Alba.
52	* CrapsackWorld: After the MilitaryCoup, the country is practically {{Mordor}}.
53	* CreepyChild: Esteban García ''smiles'' as he takes Pedro Tercero's chopped fingers while understandably Esteban Trueba himself, the one who chopped off the fingers, is throwing up. Previously he had also tried to ''gouge out'' the eyes of the corpse of his great-grandfather.
54	* CuteMute: Clara, from her sister's death until Esteban proposes to her.
55	* CycleOfRevenge: Esteban Trueba starts it when he [[spoiler:rapes Pancha García. Years later, Esteban García brings it full circle by raping Alba. Alba hopes to end it by choosing to ''not'' seek revenge.]]
56	* DatingWhatDaddyHates: The worst of all scum, a DirtyCommunist!
57	* DepravedHomosexual: [[spoiler: Jean de Satigny turns out to be one.]] Later in the book it is discovered he owns [[spoiler: kinky, gay pornography featuring sex between his servants]].
58	* DialogueReversal: Between Pedro Tercero and Esteban.
59	-->I came to get you outta here. \
60	Why? \
61	[Blanca/Alba] asked me to. \
62	Go to hell. \
63	Well, that's where we're going. You're coming with me.
64	* DirtyCommunist: You will hear Esteban rambling a lot about this. When it's not his point of view, communists are actually portrayed rather sympathetically.
65	* TheDutifulSon: Férula is a gender-flipped version. And boy, does she resent it.
66	* DyingAlone:
67	** Férula damns Esteban to die like a dog. {{Averted}}, because he dies in the company of his granddaughter.
68	** [[spoiler: Férula herself dies alone; her family only finds out that she's dead after her spirit visits them during a family dinner. This was deliberate: after Esteban kicked her out, she refused to have any contact with the Truebas-to the point that Clara can't use her powers to find her.]]
69	* EarlyBirdCameo: Esteban García gets a few before [[spoiler: the ''golpe'' or coup]], where he's shown since childhood to his teens. They are at least useful enough to understand [[BastardBastard he's the bad guy]].
70	* EarnYourHappyEnding: The '''FEW''' who get a happy ending have to work for it ''really hard''.
71	* EarthquakesCauseFissures: And worse things. It's actually based on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_Chillán_earthquake 1939 Chillán earthquake]], the single deadliest earthquake in Chile, complete with the pandemonium that followed.
72	* EccentricMentor: Pedro Primero. He seems to be just a rambling old man, but he can get rid of an ant plague and mend all the broken bones of Esteban without any problem. Oh, and did we mention [[HandicappedBadass he's blind]]?
73	* ElectiveMute: Clara becomes mute by choice after predicting the death of her sister Rosa, and doesn't speak for nine years until her engagement to Esteban. Later on, after he hits her in the face, she promises to never speak to him again, and communicates to him only through signs till the end of her life.
74	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The names of The Poet and The Candidate (later The President) are never mentioned in the book; they are exclusively referred to by these titles.
75	* ImpoverishedPatrician: [[spoiler: Alba, as a prisoner and at the end of the book, after the Truebas have lost most of their fortune and influence.]]
76	%%** Also, Férula and Esteban's mother Esther.
77	* {{Fingore}}:
78	** Esteban cuts off three of Pedro Tercero's fingers. He [[HeroicBSOD doesn't take it well]], but later [[HowDoIShotWeb works it out]] and [[HandicappedBadass learns to play the guitar with less fingers than usual.]]
79	** [[spoiler: Alba also gets three fingers chopped off by Esteban García and sent to her grandfather to taunt him, since he was present the day Esteban Trueba chopped off Pedro Tercero's fingers]].
80	* FingerInTheMail: [[spoiler: One day Colonel García felt witty and sent Alba's severed fingers to Esteba Trueba, to taunt him.]]
81	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Nicolás is the foolish sibling to Jaime's responsible sibling.
82	* ForcefulKiss: Alba at fourteen gets a '''VERY NASTY''' one by [[spoiler: Esteban García]].
83	* ForTheEvulz: According to the author, the military regime.
84	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Alba has always had the feeling that [[spoiler: Esteban García will do something bad with her. She was ''horribly'' right.]]
85	* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Esteban García has always suffered his condition as a bastard and has always envied the happy and prosperous infancy of Alba. Instigated by his grandmother Pancha García, he seeks revenge...]]
86	%%* FromNobodyToNightmare: Esteban García.
87	%%* FunnyForeigner: Jean de Satigny.
88	* GenerationXerox: Seen in a MetaphoricallyTrue perspective, Esteban Trueba and [[spoiler:his grandson, Esteban García]], aren't that different.
89	* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Averted. [[spoiler: Amanda]] has an abortion and it doesn't make her any less of a sympathetic character, nor does she she really feel bad about it. She's frightened of the operation itself, but that's only because there's a serious risk she'll bleed to death.
90	* GrammarCorrectionGag: Nicolás sends love poems to his girlfriend Amanda... and she sends them back, with corrections.
91	* GraveRobbing: Esteban and his sons exhume [[spoiler: Rosa's corpse]] from the Del Valle's crypt to put it in the Trueba's crypt.
92	* HairTriggerTemper: Esteban. When he finds his sister and his wife in bed, he has Férula banished from the family. He cuts off Pedro Tercero Garcís fingers after catching him together with Blanca. He strikes Clara in the face so hard he breaks her teeth (that's when she resolves will never again speak to him).
93	* HeadTurningBeauty: Rosa's unusual beauty when Esteban Trueba sees her for the first time causes a crowd of men to form outside the window of the shop she is in - however this same beauty intimidates men to the point where nobody has ever ventured to marry her. Rosa is known after her death as Rosa the Beautiful.
94	* HeroicBastard: It's easy to forget that Alba is actually the illegitimate daughter of Pedro Tercero Garcia and Blanca Trueba, since her grandfather dotes on her and has named her his official heir. This makes her in an interesting contrast with her fellow illegitimate child Esteban Garcia, who is not only a BastardBastard but also twice her cousin and [[spoiler: her {{Archenemy}}]].
95	* HitSoHardTheCalendarFeltIt: After a massive earthquake wreaks havoc upon Las Tres Marías, the Truebas start dividing events in before and after the earthquake.
96	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Esteban Trueba's bastard son, product of Trueba's rape of Pedro Primero's daughter Pancha, has a son who eventually turns Esteban's life into a living hell. To add insult to injury, he's the one that gets Esteban García him a job with the police just to shake him off]].
97	* HomoeroticSubtext: Clara and Férula, so much, especially on [[AmbiguouslyGay Férula's part.]] [[CrazyJealousGuy Esteban]] notices this, which leads him to [[spoiler: kicking Férula out of his house]]
98	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Tránsito Soto, who consoles Esteban when he's down and eventually [[spoiler:helps him set Alba free from the military]].
99	%%* HotBlooded: Esteban, much to his misfortune.
100	* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Esteban Trueba towards Clara.
101	* ImpoverishedPatrician: The Trueba family. The mother, Ester, was a FallenPrincess disinherited after marrying "beneath her station".
102	* IronicEcho: "...Go to hell." "Well, that's where I'm taking you to. You'll come with me anyway." ([[spoiler:Said first by Esteban to Pedro Tercero, and then by Pedro Tercero to Esteban himself.]])
103	* ItHasBeenAnHonor: The President bids farewell to all his followers during the coup. TruthInTelevision, regarding the person on whom he's based.
104	%%* JerkAss / {{Jerk With A Heart Of Gold}}: Esteban.
105	* KissOfDeath: As Esteban exhumes Rosa's corpse, he finds her intact in her beauty and kisses her lips. After this, he finds out it is a rotting corpse indeed.
106	%%* TheLostLenore: Rosa [[spoiler: and Clara]] for Esteban.
107	* LotsOfLuggage: Esteban Trueba feels "defeated" the first time Clara and Férula join him in the trip to Las Tres Marías, as he can't comprehend why they need the absurdly big amount of servants and stuff they're bringing along, while he fares just fine with his two trusty suitcases.
108	* LovedByAll: Despite her strangeness and being the source of gossip, Clara is generally beloved by most everyone she meets. Upon her death, Esteban Trueba is astonished at how many people come to attend her funeral. Love for her is arguably the only thing the family have in common and after her death, relationships between them become extremely distant, to the point that Esteban ends up exiling one of his sons.
109	* MagicRealism: After ''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude'' this novel is one of the best-known of the genre.
110	* MaidenAunt: Férula. And she's ''damn'' bitter about it.
111	* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: At the end [[spoiler: Alba doesn't know if her child is by Miguel, Colonel García or some random soldier who raped her during her imprisonment, but she doesn't care.]]
112	* MarriageOfConvenience: Jean likes Blanca well enough, but he really only wants to marry her because she's rich. Blanca, for her part, only marries Jean to get away from her father's rages and [[spoiler: because she believes Pedro Tercero is dead.]]
113	* MeaningfulName: A lot of names reflect the characters' personalities, especially the women's.
114	* MemeticMolester: [[spoiler: Esteban García]] is one in-universe. Poor, poor [[spoiler: Alba]].
115	* MindOverMatter: Clara moves a table only with her mind.
116	%%* MiniatureSeniorCitizens
117	* MissKitty: Tránsito Soto, towards the end of the book.
118	* TheMourningAfter: Esteban [[spoiler: never gets over Clara's death.]]
119	* NeverMyFault: Esteban refuses to accept that ''any'' of the many bad things that happen to him because he can't control his temper are his fault, always finding a way to blame them on someone else, like [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou the person who made him angry]]. [[spoiler: For instance, he blames Pedro Tercero for his estrangement from Clara and Blanca, thinking that a peasant should know better than to fall in love with a Trueba, rather than accepting that ''he'', Esteban, should know better than to strike his wife and daughter.]]
120	%%* NewAgeRetroHippie: Nicolás and Amanda.
121	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The Poet is a thinly-veiled Creator/PabloNeruda. Ditto with The Candidate, later The President, who is the former Chilean president Salvador Allende.
122	* NoIndoorVoice: When Esteban loses his temper, he starts shouting very loudly.
123	* [[OffWithHisHead Off with Her Head!]]: Nívea del Valle. It was in the car accident that also killed her husband Severo, if you were wondering: a piece of shrapnel broken into the car they were in, hit Nivea in the neck, and beheaded her. [[spoiler:Said head flew through the window and was lost, and Clara only managed to find it with her powers ''several'' months later (and when she was about to give birth to Blanca!).]]
124	%%* OneDegreeOfSeparation
125	* OneSteveLimit:
126	** Averted with the García family, which has three Pedros; however, to differentiate the first one from his son and grandson, the latter two are named Pedro Segundo and Pedro Tercero (Pedro the Second and Pedro the Third, respectively).
127	** Enforced by Clara inside the Trueba family; she claims that namesakes messed with the proper understanding of her life books. That was the reason why Esteban couldn't name one of his sons after himself. [[spoiler:He does, however, share his name with his bastard grandson.]]
128	** Blanca wished to name Alba after Clara, but Clara offered the same reason and suggested to look for a synonym in the dictionary.
129	* OnlySaneMan: Blanca seems to be this in a BigScrewedUpFamily.
130	* PragmaticAdaptation: The movie faithfully presents the main storyline, personalities and motivations, but compresses a lot of the plot and removes about half of the characters. Events on the book unfold for about 50 years, but the movie storyline lasts 30 at most. The most noticeable changes are that Nicolás and Jaime are removed, and the plots of Blanca and Alba are compressed on the former. Alba still appears, but only as a small girl instead of her young adult incarnation.
131	* PluckyGirl: Alba, particularly in comparison to her mother. Also [[spoiler:Tránsito Soto]].
132	* PolarOppositeTwins: Jaime is a serious academic and Nicolás is a crackpot hippie.
133	%%* PoliceBrutality
134	* PosterGalleryBedroom:
135	** A non-traditional one-Alba's bedroom is a full mural that she has been painting herself since she was a little girl, depicting the most important moments of her life. [[spoiler:This is foreshadowing of TheReveal that she has been TheNarrator all along.]]
136	** "Minor" versions: Rosa's huge and unfinished tapestry and Clara's life books.
137	* ThePromise: [[spoiler:Esteban gives a teen prostitute named Tránsito Soto some money so she can go to the city and make herself a name there. Tránsito accepts, but she also promises to repay him someday. Fifty years later, ''she keeps her word'' via using her contacts to save Esteban's MoralityPet, his granddaughter Alba.]]
138	** Also, Amanda promised to protect her little brother Miguel through all of his life, even with her own life if needed. [[spoiler:She fulfilled it by being tortured to death by the secret police and yet managing to keep his whereabouts secret.]]
139	* PromotionToParent: Amanda had to raise her much younger brother Miguel.
140	* PsychicPowers: Clara [[ISeeDeadPeople talks with spirits]], [[AuraVision can see people's auras]] and [[TeleKinesis moves objects with her mind.]] She's so skilled at the latter task that she can ''play the piano without even touching it''. There where rumors that she could [[MindReading read the minds of others]] but it was never stated by Clara herself.
141	* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Nicolás, after his eccentricities embarrass the Truebas way too much. Pedro Tercero and Blanca, when he becomes a fugitive and they both leave the country (ironically, it's ''Esteban'' who bails him and Blanca out)]].
142	* RapeAsDrama: Unfortunately, the male lead had the bad habit of assaulting peasant girls. [[spoiler: He gets paid back when his bastard grandson rapes his legitimate granddaughter specifically as revenge.]]
143	* TheRival: Nana vs. Férula, over taking care of the pregnant Clara.
144	* RomanAClef: The novel began as a letter Ms. Allende was writing to her agonizing grandfather, albeit she didn't finish it until way after his death. At some point she had to change the name of a character because she inadvertently gave him the last name of the real life inspiration/counterpart.
145	* [[SelfMadeMan Self-Made People]]:
146	** Esteban goes from an ImpoverishedPatrician miner to a very rich landowner and a Senate member [[spoiler:before losing almost everything]].
147	** Similarly, [[spoiler: Pedro Tercero goes from a poor farm boy to a well-known guitar player and musician idolized by the local youth]].
148	** [[spoiler:Tránsito Soto goes from an ugly but plucky teen prostitute to a beautiful and smart HookerWithAHeartOfGold ''and'' then to a financially fluent and ''very'' well-positioned MissKitty]].
149	** [[spoiler:A villainous example is Esteban García, who from being a bastard farm boy ends up an high-ranking colonel of the military regime. This last one will fall pretty hard on the Truebas.]]
150	* SettleForSibling: Esteban was earlier engaged to the beautiful Rosa but after her premature death, he ends up marrying her much younger sister Clara.
151	* SheIsAllGrownUp:
152	** Blanca grew into her [[AloofDarkHairedGirl looks]], and was depicted as genuinely ugly when she was born.
153	** Similarly, Esteban only recalled Clara as an average-looking and VERY awkward 12-year-old. Cue him being almost dumbstruck when he meets her at age 18 and sees that she has grown into a much prettier woman.
154	** Also happens to [[spoiler: Tránsito Soto. She started as an ugly yet plucky teen hooker, then was seen as a kinda prettier but still not super special-in-looks prostitute, but when in her 30's she was incredibly beautiful as well as ''very'' [[HighClassCallGirl well-positioned and cultured]].]]
155	* ShotgunWedding: [[spoiler: Esteban makes Blanca marry Jean de Satigny because she's carrying Pedro Tercero's daughter.]]
156	* SiblingTriangle: Nicolás, Jaime and Amanda. [[spoiler: Nobody wins.]]
157	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Falling to the cynical side, but hope is the last to die.
158	* TheSpeechless: 12-year-old Clara loses her ability to speak due to a traumatic event ([[spoiler:Rosa's murder]]), [[ItsAllMyFault which she blames herself for]]. She only regains it when she announces that Esteban will ask her parents for permission to marry her.
159	* StarCrossedLovers: {{Subverted}} with Blanca and Pedro Tercero. They at least have [[EsotericHappyEnding some sort of happy ending]].
160	* StayInTheKitchen: Esteban has always believed in this, till senility and his love for his granddaughter change his views somewhat and he wishes for Alba to have economical independence.
161	* StraightGay: Férula (her homosexuality/bisexuality is only implied) is supposed to be this.
162	* StrawMisogynist: Esteban tends to dominate the women around him and believes in StayInTheKitchen to the core. CharacterDevelopment happens, though.
163	* TangledFamilyTree: A result of frequent relationships between the Truebas and the García. Some relationship are romantic, others...[[RapeAsDrama are not]].
164	* TellHimImNotSpeakingToHim: [[spoiler: Clara never directly speaks to Esteban after he hits her for the only time ever during the Pedro Tercero deal. Esteban settles for interpreting her silences and body language. If she needs to say something more specific she sends a message through a servant.]]
165	* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Rosa was very talented at sewing and needlepoint, and she channeled said skill via sewing a HUGE tapestry through the years.
166	* ThemeNaming: The women of the Trueba family: Clara (Clear), Blanca (White) and Alba (Spanish for "Dawn" and Latin for "White"). Also the mother of Clara, Nívea (snow-white), follows the theme. Blanca [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the fact they don't have more names to keep the tradition; she only points out her they can use foreign names.
167	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The military wasn't happy with just [[spoiler:filling poor Jaime's body with bullets, they also had to dynamite it]].
168	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Clara has telekinesis. It's mentioned that when she was young and people came over for dinner her family worked out a system to prevent people from noticing plates and saltshakers randomly rising into the air. When she's older, her husband and children are utterly unfazed by seeing her sitting in a chair that's zooming around the room and playing the piano with the cover closed.
169	* VictoriousChildhoodFriend:
170	** [[spoiler:Six year old Miguel was there when Alba was born (that one's justified: Amanda, his older sister, was there as well).]]
171	** Also [[spoiler:Alba's parents, Pedro Tercero and Blanca.]]
172	* VillainousCrush: [[spoiler:Esteban García develops one to Alba. Too bad that [[IgnoredEpiphany he slams her into an isolation cell]] after figuring this out.]]
173	* VillainousIncest: Esteban García, [[spoiler: illegitimate grandson of Esteban Trueba, rapes Trueba's legitimate granddaughter Alba. [[MoralEventHorizon Many times]]. He has been molesting her since childhood]].
174	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Some characters, like Pedro Segundo, stop appearing. Basically because they stop being part of the Trueba life. Kinda justified in Pedro Segundo's case: [[spoiler:he willingly removed himself from there after Pedro Tercero was mutilated by the "patrón" whom he always hated for his abusive behavior (and envied due to being married to Clara, whom Segundo was implied to love), and only briefly reappears for Clara's funeral.]]
175	* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Rosa del Valle had a practically unearthly beauty.

Context Literature / TheHouseOfTheSpirits