Born in Buenos Aires in 1819, Juana Manso de Noronha was a writer, journalist, newspaper editor, educational reformer and campaigner for women's rights. In 1840 she was forced into exile in Uruguay with her family by the dictator, Juan Manuel de Rosas, and in subsequent years she travelled extensively throughout the Americas, notable to Brazil, Cuba and the United States. She returned to Argentina in 1853, following the demise of the dictatorship. Los Misterios del Plata is set in the year 1838, when the fledgling Argentine Republic was feeling the full force of Rosas' dictatorship. The work was first released in instalments in 1846 and a slightly revised version (on which this edition is based) was published in Buenos Aires in 1936. The novel tells the story of an exiled Argentine politician who is kidnapped by Rosas' henchmen as he attempts to find a safe haven in exile.