In the year of grace 1348, the plague makes Constantinople waver and strikes young and old, rich and beggars of Europe, Asia, and Arabia. Five merchants, called Alfonso of Medina del Campo, Bachir of Tripoli, Solomon of Venice, Thibault of Arras, and Johann of Hamburg, make a vital decision: to go towards the "Non plus ultra." To flee or to die, to remain on land or to set out to sea? Going further and further West, they cross the unknown immensity of the Western Ocean: they set sail from A Coruña and aboard the Phoenicia embark with their kin, with the chusma, soldiers, and an immense treasure.
On their voyage, they experience many setbacks until they finally find land. When they reach it, they do not know they have jumped 672 years in time. Where are they? Whom do they meet? Will they return safe and sound? Transported into the last oneiric voyage of King Alfonso XI of Castile, our characters depart and return within a dream...
Autorentext
José Sarzi Amade holds a master's degree in Spanish language and culture from St. John's University in New York. He has a Ph.D. in Italian Studies from the University of Aix-Marseille. He has lived and worked as a teacher of foreign languages and literatures in different countries, including the USA, France, Italy, Norway, and Ecuador. He has published studies in the fields of theology, cultural anthropology, comparative literature, cinema, sociology, and linguistics. He also dedicates himself to creative writing of various genres.