El anticuario de Teherán

A gold, coral and aquamarine necklace that an Iranian antiquarian begs Jorge Dezcallar to send to his daughter… This is how this book begins, in which a Spanish diplomat reviews his years as an ambassador—in Morocco, Washington and Rome—and recalls some of the personalities—ministers, kings, players and presidents—with whom he has shared diplomatic negotiations and also, at times, unforgettable evenings.

Fishing conflicts with Morocco that put both countries’ relationship in serious danger; clumsy attempts to offer the MoMA a Velázquez in exchange for the Guernica; a Moroccan banquet that does not get started till the lamb sent by the king arrives; thank yous in the form of enormous crates overflowing with soles and hakes, or a declaration of war with Russia that no one recalls for more than two hundred years… These are some of the stories that run through these pages, full of moving moments, fun, heartbreaking or simply surrealist, but always fascinating, and written by someone who thanks to all that he has lived, has learnt to be “tolerant, to contrast my points of view with others and to accept that, above the varnish of races and languages, human being are essentially the same and seek the similar things by different means.”