This is an auction for CATHEDRAL OF THE SEA by Ildefonso Falcones.

“Believable and enthralling...so beautifully structured that the last sixty pages detonate like a string of firecrackers.”

• Washington Post

"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 kind-hearted, 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. Falcones's rich portrait of medieval society is fascinating."

• Publishers Weekly (US)

Amazon.com review:

"FIVE STARS!!! There is nothing quite as satisfying as sinking your teeth into a very long, historically correct, action-packed, educational, heart-rending story woven by a master of words that turn into images, sounds and smells of a time that is long past. Bravo Mr. Falcones for this masterpiece. Cathedral of the Sea is a book that educated me, enlightened me, inspired me and gave me new insight into my ancestors."

More very favourable reviews on Amazon.com.

Large format (trade) paperback 2007.

634 pages.

Very good condition.

The cost of shipping is $4.95.

There is of course no charge for shipping if you collect this book from my shop in Palmerston North following the auction.

Payment within seven days, please.