'The terror of 1824' continues to shock two centuries later. Galdós's novel, the second part of 'The National Episodes', marked the canon of political abjection, anticipating stories about totalitarianism.
The novel begins in the autumn of 1823, with the arrival in Madrid of General Rafael de Riego, imprisoned and chained, to be hanged in the Plaza de la Cebada. It ends with another execution, that of Patricio Sarmiento, a fictional character from the Episodes who dies with dignity and greatness.