Mathias Énard

Exiled from his family for religious transgressions related to his feelings for his cousin, Lakhdar finds himself on the streets of Barcelona, hiding from both the police and the Muslim Group for the Propagation of Koranic Thoughts -- a group he worked in Tangier, Morocco, not long after being thrown out on the streets by his father. Lakhdar's transformations -- from a boy into a man, from a devout Muslim into a sinner -- take place against the backdrop...

"In 1506, Michelangelo -- young but already renowned sculptor -- is invited by the Sultan of Constantinople to design a bridge over the Golden Horn. The sultan has offered, alongside an enormous payment, the promise of immortality, since Leonardo da Vinci's design had been rejected: "You will surpass him in glory if you accept, for you will succeed where he has failed, and you will give the world a monument without equal." Michelangelo, after some...

"To research his thesis on contemporary agrarian life, anthropology student David Mazon moves from Paris to La Pierre-Saint-Christophe, a village in the marshlands of western France. Determined to understand the essence of the local culture, the intrepid young scholar scurries around restlessly on his moped to interview residents. But what David doesn't yet know is that here, in this seemingly ordinary place, once the stage for wars and revolutions,...

La contraportada dice: "Entre el Berlín actual y el Afganistán de entreguerras, se entretejen dos historias de amor en respuesta a dos épocas complejas. Alianod contrarios y acercando a personas que jamás deberían haberse cruzado, este relato explora los límites del territorio amoroso, del que ofrece una cartografía precisa y conmovedora."