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    Cathedral of the Sea

    Author Ildefonso Falcones
    Read by Paul Michael
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    Audio | Penguin Audio
    On sale May 01, 2008 | 22 Hours and 56 Minutes | 9781436219921
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    In the tradition of Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, here is a thrilling historical novel of friendship and revenge, plague and hope, love and war, set in the golden age of 14th-century Barcelona. Arnau Estanyol arrives in Barcelona and joins the powerful guild of stone-workers building the magnificent cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar, while his adoptive brother Joan studies to become a priest. As Arnau prospers, he secretly falls in love with a forbidden woman. When he is betrayed and hauled before the Inquisitor, he finds himself face-to-face with his own brother. Will he lose his life just as his beloved cathedral is finally completed, or will his brother spare him?
    © Joan Tomas
    Ildefonso Falcones is a Spanish lawyer and the internationally bestselling and award-winning author of Cathedral of the Sea and The Hand of Fatima. With over seven million copies sold, his work has been translated into more than 40 languages worldwide. He lives in Barcelona with his wife and four children. View titles by Ildefonso Falcones
    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
     

    About

    In the tradition of Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, here is a thrilling historical novel of friendship and revenge, plague and hope, love and war, set in the golden age of 14th-century Barcelona. Arnau Estanyol arrives in Barcelona and joins the powerful guild of stone-workers building the magnificent cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar, while his adoptive brother Joan studies to become a priest. As Arnau prospers, he secretly falls in love with a forbidden woman. When he is betrayed and hauled before the Inquisitor, he finds himself face-to-face with his own brother. Will he lose his life just as his beloved cathedral is finally completed, or will his brother spare him?

    Author

    © Joan Tomas
    Ildefonso Falcones is a Spanish lawyer and the internationally bestselling and award-winning author of Cathedral of the Sea and The Hand of Fatima. With over seven million copies sold, his work has been translated into more than 40 languages worldwide. He lives in Barcelona with his wife and four children. View titles by Ildefonso Falcones

    Praise

    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
     

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