Cathedral of the Sea could be subtitled "Nobles Behaving Badly." Whenever an aristocrat enters a scene, expect Big Trouble. Arrogant knights, debt-ridden barons, conniving wives, greedy kings—it's soap opera on a grand scale, made believable and enthralling by the inclusion of the commonplace brutalities and small compassions of life in medieval Barcelona…Though uncomplicated, the prose is powerful, no doubt due in part to the skill of the translator, Nick Caistor; the simplicity allows us to appreciate the riveting story without the distraction of ornamental language. Falcones has an eye for the singular, telling detail, and if his characters are simply drawn, they're believable.
—The Washington Post
With Cathedral of the Sea, Ildefonso Falcones dethrones Eduardo Mendoza and Arturo Perez Reverte . . . and has become Spain's new Dan Brown.
Medieval Spain's caste system can't keep a good man down in this absorbing epic, a Spanish-language bestseller. Arnau Estanyol, son of a fugitive peasant, starts out in 14th-century Barcelona as a lowly porter who carries stone blocks to a cathedral construction site and ends up a rich moneylender who saves the city from pillaging and frees the serfs of a barony he acquires by marriage. Alas, his dizzying social assent and defiance of the feudal order provoke enraged aristocrats-his status-obsessed wife included-into siccing the Inquisition on him. Arnau is a kindhearted, somewhat passive figure who combines piety, industry and cosmopolitanism to challenge a corrupt, dogmatic church and a parasitic nobility. The plot features thwarted romance, war, plague, immolations and self-immolations, set in a Machiavellian world ruled by privilege, cronyism and brute force. The melodrama is sometimes laid on thick, but Falcones's rich portrait of medieval society is fascinating. (Apr.)
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Centered on the life of Arnau, born to a peasant farmer in Catalonia, this weighty novel spans 55 years of medieval history. Orphaned at the age of 14 and responsible for his young adopted brother, Arnau becomes a bastaix and carries enormous blocks of stone on his back from a quarry to be used in the construction of a new Barcelona cathedral, Santa Maria de la Mar. But Arnau is not destined to be a mere laborer. The 14th century is a time of great social upheaval, and class and economic boundaries are stretched to the breaking point, allowing even the child of a peasant to gain influence, wealth, and status. Though there are momentary glimpses of exceptionally fine writing, most of this novel is tediously dry, concentrating more on history and less on character and plot. How is it possible that one of the most fascinating periods of Spanish history-a century that saw recurring plagues, wars, social and economic revolution, the rise of a powerful merchant class, and the Great Inquisition with its persecution of Jews and heretics-could be rendered in such a pedantic fashion? For a far more spirited work on a similar theme, stick with Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth . [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/08; Falcones's debut novel was a Spanish best seller, and rights have been sold in 32 countries.-Ed.]-Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Municipal Libs., AK
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition. Set in 14th-century Catalonia, Barcelona attorney Falcones's sprawling medieval family saga, a bestseller in Spain, starts with a nasty little bit of prima nocta, which, come to think of it, got another bestselling medieval epic, Braveheart, rolling. The dastardly lord Llorenc de Bellera comes calling on good Bernat Estanyol on his wedding night and declares, in lawyerly lingo, " ‘In accordance with one of my rights as your lord, I have decided to lie with your wife on her first night of marriage.' " Not a friendly thing to do, as the lovely Francesca discovers, but not the last unfriendly act on Llorenc's part, as Bernat's sturdy son Arnau discovers. Arnau has bigger fish to fry before arranging to avenge the family honor: First he has to go fight against the assembled enemies of Catalonia, then take care of some trouble with his brother, who, the bloodlines being all confused by now, has taken to behaving like Llorenc, but this time in priestly habit. Despite his misfortunes, Bernat remains a good-natured man-he dares, for instance, to smile at a Jew. Arnau inherits the sense of equitability and fair play, though Falcones can't help observing that Arnau's Jewish pal has "a piercing gaze and hook nose," certainly not the best traits in an inquisitorial age. Brother Joan, for his part, finds that there's good work to be had in being an inquisitor, heading north to do his thing, since "most of the doctrines that the Catholic church considered heretical came through Catalonia from France." Much snarling and mustache-twisting and muttering in Latin and sword-crossing ensues; stones are lifted, a cathedral is built, heretics are burned, all business asusual in such climes. Less learned than the work of compatriot Arturo Perez-Reverte, but more intelligent than the average beach book.
Praise for the #1 international bestseller Cathedral of the Sea
“The passion and heartache, as well as the grit and grime, of medieval Spain come alive...This epic novel...twists and turns through war, women and the Spanish Inquisition...[A] saga filled with colorful characters...[A] fantastic fourteenth-century fresco.”—USA Today
“[It’s] soap opera on a grand scale, made believable and enthralling by the inclusion of the commonplace brutalities and small compassions of life in medieval Barcelona. Watching Arnau’s rise from literal rags to riches is frequently like watching a series of train wrecks; you’re horrified but can’t look away...[The] plot...is so beautifully structured that the last sixty pages detonate like a string of firecrackers...[The] prose is powerful...Falcones has an eye for the singular, telling detail, and…his characters are...believable...[A] riveting story.”—The Washington Post
“[An] absorbing epic...Falcones’s rich portrait of medieval society is fascinating.”—Publishers Weekly
“[A] sprawling medieval family saga.”—Kirkus Reviews
“With Cathedral of the Sea, Ildefonso Falcones dethrones Eduardo Mendoza and
Arturo Pérez-Reverte...and has become Spain’s new Dan Brown.”—El Mundo
