Author(s): Ildefonso Falcones

General Fiction

1564, Granada. The Moors have unsuccessfully tried to rise up against their Christian oppressors and have painted the town in victims' blood. Our hero Hernando, an Arab with a Christian father, is despised by the townsfolk and by his step-father for his ‘tainted’ heritage and banished to live in the stables. Hernando has an affinity with horses and becomes an expert muleteer. News of his special touch reaches the king of the Moors and he is appointed to fight the Christian troops sent by the Spanish king Philip II. He meets Fatima, a young girl with black eyes who will become the love of his life. But his step-father marries her instead and forces Hernando into slavery where he befriends many Christians. He hatches a grand plan to reconcile the two warring faiths - and the two halves of his identity.