Chapter 5 - The Lovers Summary

Trueba sends his twin sons to English boarding school where they are raised in a strictly English environment. He sends Blanca to a Spanish Catholic school. Blanca intensely dislikes the school and chafes under its various rules. Throughout her adolescence, Blanca pursues her close friendship with Pedro Tercero. In circa 1947, Férula dies. Her ghost appears at the Trueba house to announce her passing. Trueba spends a few days tracking down his sister's whereabouts and finds her deceased. He also finds that she has been living in abject poverty for many years, storing all of the considerable money he has sent to her in a box in the closet.

Throughout the 1950s, Pedro Tercero becomes locally well-known for being a musician; he sings folksy songs about socialism and issues of class struggle. On one occasion Trueba overhers...