An epic of the 14th century which follows the entire life of a Barcelona boy and the cathedral he comes to love and helps to build. Powerful, moving, engrossing, it charts his rises and falls as well as those of the city. Highly evocative, rich in detail, one of the most compelling historical novels of the year, Cathedral of the Sea has a rare depth and sensitivity. It’s weighty and well worth getting lost in, one of those books you mourn as the end draws near.
An unforgettable fresco of a golden age in fourteenth-century Barcelona, Cathedral of the Sea is a thrilling historical novel of friendship and revenge, plague and hope, love and war.
Arnau Estanyol arrives in Barcelona to find a city dominated by the construction of the city's great pride-the cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar-and by its shame, the deadly Inquisition. As a young man, Arnau joins the powerful guild of stoneworkers and helps to build the church with his own hands, while his best friend and adopted brother Joanet studies to become a priest.
With time, Arnau prospers and falls secretly in love with a forbidden woman. But when he is betrayed and hauled before the Inquisitor, he finds himself face-to-face with Joanet. Will he lose his life just as his beloved Cathedral of the Sea is finally completed, or will his brother save him?