The traditional division of Galdós’s novels into his early novels (‘de la primera época’) and those of his ‘segunda o tercera manera’ has been the subject of much discussion. While some scholars such as Richard Cardwell seek a sweeping ‘total view’ that is sceptical about the validity of the distinction, the majority of critics believe there is reason to accept some differentiation. At the same time it has been convincingly argued, on the one hand, that La familia de León Roch (1879) is a transitional work, and on the other, that La desheredada (1881), habitually considered as the work initiating the second manner, has some transitional characteristics, being, in Eamonn Rodgers’s words, ‘still constrained within the context of his reformist, Krausist-enlightenment outlook’ (1993: 77).

Across the divide, however, there is an evident link between Marianela (1878) and El doctor Centeno (1883) that has been frequently noted but has attracted little detailed investigation. Yet, as José-Carlos Mainer points out in his cogent discussion in the Introduction to his edition of El doctor Centeno (2002: 9–10), Felipe’s story is explicitly anticipated at the end of the narration in the standard edition of Marianela.

This ending gives rise to a puzzle: why did Galdós not follow up immediately with the sequel he promised in this extremely unequivocal declaration of intent, instead of writing three other novels first? Jacques Beyrie, in particular, draws attention to the problem: