There were only a couple of “good” women mostly they were immoral, conniving, cruel, and self-centered. Perhaps I’m being unfair, but that was the feeling I got. I fully understand that this is the 14th century and that the system in place did not value women much, but I got the distinct impression that the author shares that sentiment. I was perturbed by the way Falcones treated the women in the novel. My, oh my, but the medieval era was hard to survive! As if plague, poverty, wars, and a feudal system that virtually enslaved the peasants wasn’t enough, the people also had to deal with the Spanish Inquisition and the hysteria engendered by the Church.
He’ll need those prayers, and Joan (who becomes a Dominican and an Inquisitor) to survive what the years have in store for him. When he and his friend / “brother” Joan (a street urchin who is also motherless) stumble upon the site of the church, Arnau becomes devoted to the Virgin Mary, praying to her and devoting his life to seeing that she is honored with a church worthy of her. Arnau is motherless due to a cruel feudal system, but he has a loving father. This is an epic historical novel set in 14th-century Barcelona, and focusing on one (fictional) bastaix (a laborer who loaded/off loaded cargo from ships, but also carried the massive stones used to construct the Basillica from the quarry to the construction site). Spanish journalists / reviewers have called Falcones the “Spain’s new Dan Brown” or proclaimed “A new Ken Follett is born!” I can certainly see why those comparisons are made.
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