A realistic and regional novelist, Valera is best known for his creation of Andalusian atmosphere, sensual themes, and psychological depth. Pepita Jimenez (1874), an ironic novel in epistolary form, explores the inner turmoil of Luis, a young seminarian distracted from his religious study by Pepita Jimenez, who is engaged to his own widower father. A moralist concerned with correct behavior, Valera indicated through his conclusion to the novel that Luis's romantically inspired religious faith is hollow and that service to God may take the form of human, as well as spiritual, love. Dona Luz (1879) deals with the same themes.
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