El Hermano takes place during the forty days of Lent in 1928 as Jos� and his cousins conspire to spy on one of the brotherhood�s secret rituals to see what lies ahead for them as novices. Jos� knows his time to join the cofrad�as (of which his own father is Hermano Mayor) is near, but having seen Hermanos who appear to be in pain after a night spent at the morada, a meeting house and chapel, and having heard stories about...