Camilo Castelo Branco - A Doida do Candal

A critical and popular success, the novel "The Madwoman of Candal" saw its first and second editions in 1867 and a third edition in 1888, while Camilo was still alive.

At the center of the story stands **Marcos Freire Pamplona**, a typical figure of the romantic hero—young and brave, revolutionary and liberal—a descendant of the heroic lineage of General **Gomes Freire de Andrade**, martyr of freedom and "the first name in the martyrology of the New Light."

Rebellious, to the social scandal and great dismay of his father, the young nobleman Marcos Freire had been in a romantic relationship for over three years with **Maria de Nazaré**, the "lost one," a young woman of modest origin, "middle-class, daughter of wealthy merchants."