La mujer de la entrada

The protagonist of this novel is a middle-aged woman named Lorna. Her surname, however, varies: sometimes it's Baker, other times Mason, other times Inglefield. Her life is also highly variable: she might be an abandoned woman, one who has just discovered her husband is a bigamist, another who is the impoverished granddaughter of a Russian grand duchess. All these stories are fabrications, initially motivated by a good and genuine cause: her eldest daughter had fallen ill, and, lacking the resources to pay for medical treatment, she sought out wealthy people who would take pity on her and help her financially. But, once her daughter recovered, she marveled at her persuasive skills and continued visiting—with her own daughters, to further sway their emotions—potential benefactors, from whom she almost always manages to extract money. This way of life and her "constant flirtation with the abyss" are, in fact, very dangerous. An arrogant army captain decides to track her down and unmask her, and from here, the plot unfolds over time, drags unexpected victims, and becomes complicated with multiple incidents.