Caterina Albert (1869–1966), better known under the pseudonym Víctor Català, was a writer best known for the novel mentioned above, a masterpiece of Catalan literature and a representative work of Modernism.

It is a novel of self-construction and the discovery of one’s own personality. The protagonist, Mila, is a woman dissatisfied with her marriage, which causes her an emotional imbalance that drives her to seek love in other relationships, especially with a shepherd. It is a fully symbolic narrative; thus, it focuses on the deformed image of the saint in a chapel, which Mila interprets in an atmospheric way.