Falcones, a Spanish lawyer, has written a poignant story filled with educational historical details worth reading. This hero’s journey is filled with emotion and tension right up to the end when he is arrested as a heretic, betrayed by his boyhood friend, a righteous Catholic Inquisitor, and his wife. A construction that moves parallel to the hazardous story of Arnau, son of a peasant serf, who flees from the abuses of his feudal lord and takes refuge in.

Later he becomes a wealthy “money changer,” but his happiness is constantly thwarted by his enemies and his own determination to avenge his father’s death. He rescues two Jewish children during an attack by Christian fanatics. Arnau becomes a decorated soldier as King Pedro mounts invasions and sea battles to protect his trade corridors and land boundaries. The author provides extensive details on the architectural design and construction of this church, a backdrop for the majority of the book’s dramatic scenes.įalcones’ fictional characters revolve around historical information gathered from King Pedro the Third’s Crónica. He becomes the youngest bastaixo, a port worker, who carries heavy blocks of stone on his back for the construction of the Santa Maria del Mar cathedral, a Catalan Gothic church built for the people rather than for lords and kings. After his father is hung during a serf revolt, Aranu embraces the Virgin Mary as a substitute mother. As fugitive serfs, father and son escape to Barcelona where they are eligible to become free citizens after living in the city for year.īut life is cruel. The hefty historical suspense novel follows the dramatic and tragic journey of Arnau Estanyol from rags to riches in 14th century Barcelona.Įstanyol’s mother is enslaved by Lord Navarcles, and as an infant he is rescued from the castle stable by his father, Bernat. Two years after winning numerous national awards, Nick Caistor has translated the book for release in the U.S. Ildefonso Falcones’ first novel, Cathedral of the Sea, became a “publishing phenomenon” when it was released in Spain in 2006. a poignant story filled with instructive historical details.

Cathedral of the sea novel