La sombra de otro

The Shadow of Someone Else

In a Toledo bookshop, a literature professor by chance comes across some old papers written in Arabic characters. It is the “Confesion” by Antonio de Segura, an enemy in the shadow of Miguel de Cervantes, whom he envies with all his soul and whom he persecutes ruthlessly with the intention of destroying him. In it, Segura relates, from jail, how he met Cervantes in his youth and how he was wounded by him in the course of a fight, an event that will change both of their fates forever. 

From there on ensue the adventures, mysteries, intrigues, conflicts and personal and political rivalries; the struggles for survival and efforts to get a foothold in Court and in the world of letters, thus creating a fabulous journey through the life of the author of Don Quixote. From the streets of the Villa de Madrid to the city of Algiers, and from the inspiring Manchego austerity to the Sevillian exuberance, the main episodes of the genius’s life unravel in a plot which is as passionate as it is rigorous.

A quality historical novel that doesn’t lack irony or Cervantine understatements. Set in a historical background it is fully of memorable characters that surprise us with intrigue and adventure.