In these times, writing a historical novel set in Barcelona runs the risk of arousing suspicion of all kinds, on one side or the other. But in the end, good literature is responsible for destroying prejudices.
Juan Francisco Ferrándiz offers us a story in the middle of the century of the Normans. The IX was a time of false imperial unity sustained in Christianity, whose only theoretical threat was that of the Vikings, little given to unification and less on the basis of institutionalizing beliefs and with a tax tendency.
What would Barcelona be like in those days? To begin with, we have to rethink the current appearance of the Catalan capital, logically. In those days, Barcelona used to be a small isolated city exposed to attacks from the southern Mediterranean at times and from northern Europe at other times.
Bishop Frodoi arrived in the city in 861, with little spirit considering that this was a departure from the imperial nerve centers. However, Frodoi himself extended his stay until his death almost thirty years later.
Several reasons led him to remain on that last frontier of the empire, without intention to thrive in other places of greater demand among his own. In the first place the noble Goda captivated him and involved him in the cause of the city. Because Goda loved Barcelona and expected a better destination for her than the current one.
And the story then becomes an adventure. Faced with the attacks of various peoples and the abuses of their own nobles, more oriented to their own glory than to the revitalization of the city, Frodoi, Goda and other allies that are emerging will insist on glorifying the city, in procuring it a better destiny. .
Different spheres of the city are involved in the cause, from Isembard de Tenes with its noble origins that seem more committed to the perpetuation of the wealthy classes of the moment, to Elisia the innkeeper, intelligent and visionary, a woman convinced that indeed Barcelona deserved other rulers and other considerations.
You can now buy the novel The cursed earth, the new novel by Juan Francisco Ferrándiz, here. With a small discount for accesses from this blog, which is always appreciated: