But it isn’t her feats of superheroism that give the story its chilly sense of reality; it’s her casual acceptance of the almost universal corruption of everyone who lives in her world.

Spain has effectively been a two-party state since democracy was reinstated in 1978 and the current stalemate is unprecedented. For King Felipe, who has been on the throne for only 18 months, these are also uncharted waters.

To this advice may be added the reminder, contained in a word of Walter Bagehot's , that excepting in times of great excitement an audience begins to listen in a decidedly “factish” frame of mind.

But once you've tasted the sweet flesh of a delicata or slipped the strands of a spaghetti squash out of its shell, you'll never again regard winter squash as merely an agricultural art piece.