The Creator's Map Tapa dura - 2008

de Emilio Calderon; Katherine Silver (Translator)

Through the eyes of a Spanish architect in Rome, the dark period surrounding the rise and fall of Fascism roars to life, as the architect, a passionate young librarian, and an Italian prince become entangled in a web of intrigue, love, and deceit involving a fateful map whose secrets are powerful enough to destroy them.

Rome, 1952 José María is like Europe itself struggling to recover from the chaotic and character-defining events that transpired during the previous fifteen years, events that haunt him still. He and his wife, Montse, attempt not to dwell on their past, until the day they read about a mysterious death by decapitation of an old acquaintance, and José María's memories come surging back.

And so our narrator begins his tale It is 1937, in the thick of the Spanish Civil War. José María and Montse are two of a group of Spaniards thrown together, forced to wait out the war in refuge at the Spanish Academy in Rome. Unlike the rest of his compatriots, José María has no strong feelings either way about the Fascist or Nationalist ideologies that are causing such bloodshed in his home country; it is only the beautiful and bookish Montse who ignites his passion. When Montse and José María sell a sixteenth century text discovered in the Spanish Academy's forgotten library, they unwittingly become embroiled in an underground Nazi plot to collect mystic artifacts for the practice of the black arts. The most powerful artifact sought the one most coveted by the Führer is the Creator's Map, a legendary document depicting the power centers of the universe, said to be penned by God himself.

When the handsome and sinister Prince Junio, a wealthy Italian Fascist and Nazi sympathizer who is in pursuit of the map, appears to take a romantic interest in Montse, she is recruited to spy on him. As WWII blazes into full force, the idealistic Montse becomes more and more deeply involved in espionage, as does José María, for his own reasons.

Covering the most tumultuous and fascinating period of recent history from the beginning of the Spanish Civil War to the end of World War II The Creator's Map brilliantly recreates the dark intrigue, romantic entanglements, and divided loyalties of a war-torn Europe. Long after the war is over, the destinies of these characters will continue to be shaped by the devastating repercussions of this tumultuous time.