This book is a hidden gem from Spanish author Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, best known for his epic novel Blood and Sand. El préstamo de la difunta (which translates to The Loan from the Deceased Woman) is much shorter, but it packs a punch.

The Story

The story follows a Spanish soldier wounded in the Cuban War for Independence. In a field hospital, a dying Cuban woman gives him a beautiful locket with her portrait inside. She makes him swear on her soul to deliver it to her family back in Spain. He survives, returns home, and tracks down the address. But when he arrives, he's met with shock and confusion. The family reveals the woman in the locket is their daughter... who died years before he ever went to Cuba. How could a dead woman ask for a favor?

Why You Should Read It

I love how this story plays with your expectations. It starts as a war tale, becomes a promise-keeping mission, and then turns into a genuine mystery with a supernatural chill. Ibáñez doesn't waste a word. He builds the historical setting—the heat of Cuba, the weariness of war—so you feel grounded, which makes the ghostly twist hit even harder. It's less about horror and more about the weight of a promise and the strange, thin line between the living and the dead.

Final Verdict

This is for readers who enjoy classic short stories with a clever, unsettling edge. If you like the eerie feeling of an M.R. James ghost story or the moral puzzles of someone like Saki, you'll find a lot to love here. It's also a great, accessible entry point into Spanish literature from this period. You can read it in one sitting, but you'll be thinking about it for a while after.