In this stunning first novel by Emilio Calderon, we see the rise and fall of fascism through the eyes Jose Maria Hurtado, a Spanish architect studying in Rome. Together with Montse, a passionate young librarian, and an Italian prince, Junio Vivarini, he becomes entangled in a web of political intrigue, love and deceit involving a fateful map. The map, said to be of divine origin, has obsessed historians and believers for centuries, and is now of great interest to the chief of the Nazi SS, Heinrich Himmler. Set during the tumultuous 1930s and 40s, from the beginning of the Spanish Civil War until the end of the World War II, this fascinating novel recreates the dark intrigue, romantic entanglements and divided loyalties of a war-torn Europe, whose complicated, sinister repercussions will play out in the post-war lives of its characters.
