A Escrava Isaura (Portuguese pronunciation: [a ɨsˈkɾavÉ iˈzawɾÉ], Isaura, The Slave Girl) is a novel written by the Brazilian writer Bernardo Guimarães. It was first published in 1875 by Casa Garnier publishers in Rio de Janeiro. With this novel, Bernardo Guimarães became very famous throughout that country, even said to be admired by Brazil's last Emperor Dom Pedro II.
In 1976, a Brazilian telenovela adaptation produced by Rede Globo was titled Escrava Isaura. It was a worldwide success.
In 2004, a second Brazilian telenovela was produced by TV Record. It was also titled A Escrava Isaura. This adaptation also aired at Telemundo in the United States. This version was dubbed into Spanish and titled La Esclava Isaura.
Isaura, daughter of a Portuguese worker and a freed black woman, is an enslaved girl that endures hard times before she is freed and finally marries her star-crossed lover, Ãlvaro. Meanwhile, she suffers greatly at the hands of Leôncio Almeida, the landlord of a plantation and main antagonist in the plot, who wants to make her a concubine. She even becomes briefly engaged to the humpback dwarf Melchior and almost marries him to avoid prostitution, before Ãlvaro comes in her aid.
