Cathedral of the Sea: A Novel

The story premise sounds promising and delightfully Ken Follett-esque. However, after just 20 pages I am not sure that I will finish this book as the writing is choppy, repetitive and often difficult to follow even seemingly simple plot sequences.

i was frankly disappointed in this book which had been recommended to me before a trip to Barcelona. It may be a problem of translation, but the writing is run-of-the mill and when i got to overtly sexual writing, felt that the author needed to spice up a thin story line. I don't usually leave a book half way and perhaps had i read it through my overall impression might have been more positive. But i was so turned off by ordinary writing and embarrassing sexual scenes that i stopped.

i was frankly disappointed in this book which had been recommended to me before a trip to Barcelona. It may be a problem of translation, but the writing is run-of-the mill and when i got to overtly sexual writing, felt that the author needed to spice up a thin story line. I don't usually leave a book half way and perhaps had i read it through my overall impression might have been more positive. But i was so turned off by ordinary writing and embarrassing sexual scenes that i stopped.

In the first hundred pages, we read about: the rape of a woman on her wedding night by the lord of the castle; the woman abandoning her baby and forced to "service" the soldiers; the whipping and death of a servant girl; and a woman who was bricked into a hut and fed only bread and water because she was an adultress. Is this supposed to be a story about architecture, and life in Barcelona or is it supposed to be a diatribe against women? I wasn't having fun, so I stopped reading. Do yourself a favor, and don't start it!

Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones is a fictional book taking place in 1300s Spain, Barcelona to be more accurate. The book was published in 2006 and has been translated by Nick Caistor.

The novel follows Arnau Estanyol, the son of a fugitive serf who obtains freedom and eventually achieves a high status in medieval Barcelona. Throughout his life, the one constant that Arnau has is a small cathedral which he have helped build, which grows, like Arnau, and becomes his solace and community when all else fails.

When I started reading Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones the book that immediately came to mind was Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, the general themes and times seemed to be very similar, but the storytelling is, of course, very different.

The author does an excellent job moving the story along, even for such a large book. The descriptions of living a life, challenges, and classes of old Barcelona, as it is about to become a world center, are fascinating, engaging, and interesting.

The author doesn’t paint Spain with rose colored glasses, he talks about bigotry, the horrible Inquisition (whose main job was the steal the money of the rich, not necessarily conversion), commerce, and economic inequality. On top of all those there are the issues people struggle with to this day, religion, morality, the everyday problems life throws at you and how to reconcile them all.

My only complaint is that the books drags in the last quarter. The outcome was obvious, the characters were just as engaging and the story was still drawn out, nevertheless it was worth reading.

The book starts in 1329, the same year that construction began on the Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Mer, in Barcelona, Spain. The son of a serf, Arnau Estanyol's life was difficult from his first breaths. His mother was raped by the wealthy landowner on the eve of her wedding . Later, his father was forced to abduct him and they fled to Barcelona.

As a young boy, he met and befriended a child, Joanet, who would become his best friend . Together, they explored Barcelona and learned of it's treasures and some of it's secrets. The most important to them was the church of the Virgin, The Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Mer was under construction and the two were fascinated. Their lives became entwined with the progress of the building.

I read this book steadily for a week, pushing aside other obligations to gain more reading time.

Themes in this novel include: love, longing for family, revenge, religion and honour. Arnau is an honourable man and one of the most widely respected of Barcelona's citizens. From his lowly beginnings offering water to the bastaix who were carrying stones for the cathedral, to that of Counsulate of the Sea (magistrate) he never looses site of his humble birth. He is the kind of man that I want to know.

A book this long also needs a villain. That roll is filled by the nobles, who are self centred, with no concern for those in their care (the serfs) , and no thought to the future. The Inquisitor of the Holy Office, Nicolau Eimerich, is a horrid person but so well written that I could actually imagine him presiding over the hearings.

I found the treatments of the Jews disturbing, though it is accurately retold from historical documents. Author Ildefonso Falcones based the book on a historical events though some liberties were made to accommodate the story line.

This is a well written, in depth book that conveys the difficulties of life in 14th century Spain. The descriptive passages , particularly of the church, left me feeling as though I really was there. I highly recommend this book for fans of history and those interested in learning more about Spain.

Set in 14th century Barcelona, around the building of the magnificent Santa Maria del Mar--Cathedral of the Sea--in the Ribera district, I really enjoyed this book.
The main character, Arnau Estanyol is the son of a fugitive peasant who starts out as a lowly porter, carrying stones for the building of this cathedral. Arnau's luck turns when King Pedro makes him a baron as a reward for his courage in battle. But the king also forces him to marry Eleonor, one of his wards, with who Arnau is not in love. His new-found social status and riches incite jealousy from those around him, who set about bringing Arnau down, all with terrible consequences.
Arnau's journey from slave to nobleman is the story of a struggle of good versus evil, Church versus State and brother versus brother.
I was impressed with Falcones' knowledge of 14th century traditions, commerce and culture and his detailed research shines though in this rich and fascinating portrait of medieval society.
An epic tale of war, love, treason, plague, anti-Semitism and the Inquisition, I would recommend this to readers enjoying historical fiction of this era.

Go visit Barcelona and the Cathedral of the sea - they are nice. Also, the main thing I got from this book was: SO. MUCH. RAPE.
It's like the author has a very strange fetish with the way he presents the rape in this book. Very, very strange. I know my review is somewhat lackluster, but I can't really say something new that hasn't already been said by the other reviewers. Just this: if you read this expect those rape scenes to hit you straight in the face.

I picked up this well crafted historical epic masterpiece at a charity shop and am so thrilled that I did. It is passionate and beautiful, inspiring , uplifting and heartbreaking, with a strong feel for 14th century Catalonia at the height of the Inquisition

Arnau Estanyol is the son of a fugitive serf who acquires freedom, wealth and a high status through the help of his Jewish benefactor Hasdai Crescas and the Moorish slave he is given to him, Guillem, after the rescues Hasdai's three young children and the slave from a mob which has attacked the Jewry in Barcelona in a bloodthirsty pogrom caused by a blood libel. He achieves great military success against the attacking ships of the enemy king of Castille, and is elevated to the nobility while being forced marry the ward of the King, Eleanor who he does not love, as his heart belongs to the enchanting girl he adopted after the death of her parents, the attractive and lively Mar.

Arnau is betrayed by his adopted brother Joan, who has become a cruel and narrow-minded inquisitor , who together with the evil Eleanor plan and execute the kidnap, rape and forced marriage of Mar. Arnau falls foul of the inquisition, and the author gives a great insight into the machinations of the Spanish Inquisition, and it's purge of Jews and 'Heretics'

Meanwhile two women who have been earlier in their lives forced into prostitution, Arnau's mother (unbeknown to him) Francesca and Arnau's first love the alluring and goodhearted Aledis. I like his sympathetic portrayal of the prostitutes, and his reminder to us that often it is many whores who's hearts are much bigger than those of the the saints. The book is lingeringly erotic in parts SPOILER WARNING

Together with Mar and Guillem they rescue Arnau from death at the hands of the inquisition

This book is not only a real page turner, of which the last 150 pages are particularly enthralling but an analysis of historical events including the Inquistion and anti-Semitism, society and human nature.
Highly recommended.

SOME SPOILERS.

Proud Spanish families, medieval times, the feudal system, lords, serfs, peasants, submission, the plague, and, of course, beautiful Barcelona....all of this and more are the makeup of Cathedral of the Sea.

Beautiful Barcelona was the salvation and dream of all peasants and serfs...it promised freedom if you lived there for one year and a day. Bernat Estanyols and his infant son Arnau fled to Barcelona to obtain their freedom after they lost everything to the Llorence de Bellera, lord of Navarcles. Llorence was a brutal, greedy man.

Luckily Bernat's sister lived in Barcelona and was married to a wealthy potter. His sister allowed him to live in their complex....Bernat worked for his brother-in-law but had to live with the peasants and slaves. Arnau was educated along with his cousins and was allowed to live in the mansion.

Bernat and Arnau achieved their year and one day in Barcelona with hardships and heartaches happening in that time frame and then Arnau was forced out of the house because of an incident, became sad because of the incident, and was no longer allowed to live in the mansion and be educated along with his cousins. Arnau has nothing to do during the day but watch his cousins play. One day he meets a tattered young boy with nothing to do either, and they become friends. During their daily searches and playtime, they find the Santa Maria church under construction. They are fascinated with the way the HUGE stones are pulled to the top and put into place. They spend their days at the site providing water to the workers and enjoying their company.

As much fun as they were having and despite the friendships they were making, Arnau's father was still despised by his brother-in-law's NEW wife and so was Arnau. She tried to get them in trouble and forced her serfs to do things that would make Bernat and Arnau look like the guilty party. Misfortune continued to plague Arnau and his father as everyone in Barcelona except the rich and noble were starving because there was no wheat to feed anyone or it was at an unreachable price.

Arnau gets into some trouble of his own, and the heartache continues in beautiful Barcelona....serfs were never respected and blamed for things they didn't even commit. One piece of good fortune does come to Arnau through his friendships with the bastaixos, the workers who carry the giant boulders for the building of the great cathedral, and Father Albert's kindness and feelings for young Arnau.

Arnau becomes favored among his fellow bastaixos and his adopted brother, Joan, studies for the priesthood. Arnau becomes enamored by a girl whose father won't let him marry her and then marries another since his brother said he won't go into the priesthood until Arnau is married and has someone to take care of him. Arnau can't refuse his brother or let him not become a priest so he marries someone he really doesn't love. His wife, Maria, was so kind, affectionate, loving, and trusting and Arnau was not being faithful. He got tired of being unfaithful to his wife since she was such a good person and decided the only way to get away from his mistress was to join the army. His wife was accepting, but his mistress was not.

Adventures continue for Arnau...good and bad adventures that include his mistress.

When the war was over, Arnau came back home to his wife but happiness still avoided him...the plague had arrived in Barcelona. The Jewish people were blamed for the plague...the citizens of Barcelona were killing the Jewish children and adults...Arnau came between three small children and a citizen who was going to kill them. Arnau was hurt while defending the children, but it turned out to be the best thing that happened to him. The Jewish family nursed Arnau back to health and became very fond of Arnau. To repay Arnau for saving his children, the children's father helped Arnau become a money changer.

Another Jewish child had no parents and Arnau was asked to adopt her. Mar lived with Arnau and was educated and very happy. Mar was devastated when the King demanded that Arnau marry his ward, Eleanor, for repayment of saving Barcelona from another invasion. He didn't want to get married, but couldn't refuse the King so he married. As you can imagine, it wasn't a happy union...in fact, they rarely talked to each other or slept together. Eleanor got tired of waiting to consummate their marriage not because she loved Arnau, but because she was worried what would happen to Arnau's fortune if he died. She didn't want Mar to receive all the riches, and that could be done because under the law at that time, if a marriage was not consummated, then the wife had no right to anything. Because of this concern, Joan and Eleanor devised an unthinkable plan for Mar.

Everything went downhill for Arnau after the incident with Mar...friends betrayed him, the de Belleras came back for revenge along with others, and his business was in jeopardy, but his beloved church was progressing and his Virgin of the Sea was still there for him.

The book was a little slow at first, but the history of Barcelona, the building of the church, and the way people lived and were ruled was fascinating. It also makes one glad to not be living during that era.

It is a long book, but it gets better so don't give up. I enjoyed the history lesson and, of course, the descriptions of ancient Barcelona...what a beautiful, historical city then and now. 5/5

The excessive brutality to women in this novel makes it unreadable. As a professional historian, I appreciate the historical accuracy of rape and abuse perpetrated against women in the medieval world. Nevertheless, Falcones seems to revel in brutality against all of his female characters, who are - without exception - either victims of rape or noblewomen who use their position to perpetrate brutality on the women and men below them. The book begins with a brutal rape, followed by more and more rape of the same character. Perhaps I should have stopped there. But I read on, hundreds of pages of rape, forced imprisonment, plague, adultery, and more rape. Falcones does periodically bring moments of justice to his oppressed characters.

But he destroyed my trust as a reader when he transformed the main character's brother into a willing accomplice in abduction, brutal multiple rapes, and forced marriage. What caring brother and priest would do this to his brother and niece? I closed the book and cursed the author. Authors control the worlds they create. Falcones must have something dark inside him to twist even his sympathetic characters into the worst of misogynists.

One of the great canards of medieval life that have been promoted to outraged titillation in the world of entertainment is the putative droit du seigneur, the right of a feudal lord to bed the wives of his serfs on their wedding night. There is almost no evidence that such a right ever existed in law, though it is undeniable that serfs were abused and their wives very likely forced into granting sexual favours. Still, this is a favourite trope among writers of historical fiction (equally, directors of films set in the Middle Ages), and Ildefonso Falcones in his Cathedral of the Sea proves no different. Perhaps, though, we should believe Falcones - he is, after all, a lawyer himself, and he quotes Catalan legal documents (the Usatges) that purport to grant such rights. The novel, a sweeping history of the construction of the magnificent Cathedral of Santa María del Mar by indigent labourers as an act of love and devotion, starts with the violation of a woman on the night of her wedding. The story then follows the fortunes of the woman's husband, and then their son, against the background of the rise of Barcelona's maritime power. It is a gripping tale, incorporating miracles, internecine feuds, pogroms against Jews, naval battles, detailed explanations of construction techniques, sex and strife between diabolically devious women and inhumanly good men, envy between brothers, religious schisms, class struggles, and, if all this were not enough, the Inquisition. I'm well pleased with this, especially because there was nary a mention of the Templars.

Cathedral of the Sea tells the life story for Arnau Estanyol, and takes place in Barcelona in the 1,300's. Arnau is a fantastic character, one you find yourself rooting for almost from the minute of his conception.

I found this book to be a real page-turner. It has everything really good historical fiction should have. Good characters, feudal opression, religious persecution, (it's astonishing to see what was done to people in the name of religion) a little plague, a little romance, poverty, class distinctions, some war, revenge, betrayal ... and a hero. The writing was top notch. Falcones really had a way of building tension.

A couple of the things that I really appreciated in the book: First, was Falcones's treatment of the Plague. It happened, it needed to be mentioned, but he didn't dwell on it for chapter after chapter. It got a nice respectful amount of attention, and then we moved on. Second, I liked in the authors notes that he explained what was based on fact, and what was made up. I'm always curious about that after reading a book so I am grateful when it's there.

A lot of comparisons have been made to The Pillars of the Earth. The building of a Cathedral does feature in this book, but it's more of a background accompaniment vs. a tale about the construction like Pillars. But, for me, it was every bit as good as Pillars and I definitely recommend it.

This is a fantastic read. Initially I was daunted by the volume of this book, however I could not put it down. I ended up reading it in just a few days and finished it wishing there was more. By way of disclosure I read this novel in preparation for a trip to Barclona and yet I was immediately swept into the incredible drama of the story. An engaging, moving, fascinating, beautiful and poignant view into the world of 14th century Spain. The story follows the life, loves and fortunes made and lost of man living in Barcelona in the 14th century. His life is intimately involved with the construction of the Basilica of Santa Maria Del Mar and he is witness to a spectacular and sometimes terrible period of history on the Iberian Peninsula. After reading many favorable comparisons to Pillars of the Earth, I twice attempted to read Pillars and frankly found it clunky and false by comparison. This is a great read.

This was a wonderful book! Concise, well researched and well written. I loved it, it was detailed where you can picture every place, room city, and event, experience what they were living and loving or despising certain characters. Amazing that even thigh the story is fiction, some events mentioned in the book and which the story is based on were true with an explanation from the author at the very end (after you have completed the book). Many compare it with The Pillars of the Earth, which I have also read and lived, but although it has similarity in building a church, the characters and setting is completely different. I highly recommend!

I just finished the English translation. I very much enjoyed the flow of the story over many decades and the development of the many characters. In this story all the action takes place in or near to Barcelona at a time when Spain was split into several feudal kingdoms. At first I was concerned about the translation but soon forgot I was not reading the original words. During the course of the story I researched the Santa Maria church and was awned by its beauty and having those pictures in mind really helped my appreciation of the story. I was also impressed with the authors knowledge of 14th century commerce and customs and how it made for exciting addition to the story. As the story came to an end I felt I was saying good by to a family I had to come enjoy spending time with. Overall highly recommend if you like historical fiction from this time period.

Barcelona has recently become a background city for an increasing number of novels. As a beautiful city with tempestuous history, it deserves the attention it gets. Let us only hope these novels will be sufficiently different from one another to keep the readers interested.

"The Cathedral of the Sea" is a big brick of a novel, ambitious in scope. The history of the city is woven together with the building of the cathedral and the life of a man. The magical scenery of medieval Barcelona is an ideal setting for this novel of full tragic love affairs, great emotions, betrayals, schemes and revenge.

In the first half of a fourteenth century Barcelona, a capital of the Principality of Catalonia, is a maritime power, dominating the sea trade, and grows toward the sea. In the sea-adjacent poor district of Ribera, the inhabitants decide to build a cathedral devoted to the Holy Virgin - Santa Maria de la Mar. The story of the construction is intertwined with the life story of Arnau Estanyol, who arrives in Barcelona as a baby with his desperate father, Bernat, an indentured peasant who lost everything and is determined to provide his son with freedom. Bernat and his own father were honest and hard-working, but when old Estanyol died and Bernat decided to marry, the knight executed his rights and raped Bernat's wife, Francesca, later taking her to his castle as a wet nurse. Bernat managed steal back his baby Arnau and faced losing his land because of the hatred of the knight. He decided to burn the bridges and run away to hide in Barcelona, using the city's law: whoever manages to hide there for a year, becomes a free citizen. Bernat hid at the house of his sister, married to a potter, Grau, who was rapidly becoming a wealthy man. Unfortunately, Grau also hated Bernat and Arnau... Bernat managed to hang on after his sister's death and got freedom for his son. But soon Arnau had to fend for himself. Motherless, he loved Saint Mary as his own mother, and become a bastaixo, carrying stones for the cathedral. Later, he went to war, and because of his honesty and good heart found himself a wealthy man, a banker and a king's son in law. He could not escape the rumors, the jealousy, and, finally, the inquisition. Or... could he?

The novel reads fast, it is a real page-turner. A good introduction to Catalonian history, it has somehow simple plot, but compensates with beautiful background of Barcelona and appeals to emotions.

Released in May of this year, Spanish author Ildefonso Falcones' Cathedral of the Sea has been a runaway bestseller in Europe. A medieval historical fiction epic in the vein of Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, the book centers on fourteenth century Barcelona living through the war and plague and one character's plight to have a good and happy life.

Arnau Estanyol is someone who's never had anything handed to him on a platter, but then it is fourteenth century medieval Spain, and times are especially hard if you're a peasant. In this feudal system, the peasants are essentially slaves to the landlord, whom they must pay in labor and crops grown. Fighting for their freedom, Arnau and his father fleet to the big city of Barcelona, where if they remain uncaptured for over a year, they will gain their emancipation.

Arnau finds the great Barcelona to be a wondrous and new place and falls in love with the growing cathedral that is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Wanting to help however he can, he forces his way in to becoming a bastaix--the workers who carry the giant boulders for the building of the great cathedral. As the youngest bastaix ever, Arnau proves he can carry the giant rocks from the quarry to the growing church.

In the city of Barcelona, Arnau finds love and much loss, feuding and vengeful families, and loving people, plague and war, as well as a respect and befriending of the Jewish people who are hated by all. When the plague hits, wiping out a considerable percentage of the population, the people blame the Jews, saying they poisoned the wells. Arnau must defend his new friends, and in this way is introduced to a new and lucrative career choice.

While at times it seems Falcones is borrowing a little too much from Follett, in making revenge and despair prevalent actions and emotions in the people of his world, the reasoning and meaning behind their intentions is unclear and at times seemingly pointless. There is a lacking in depth of character and storyline that has made Follett's historical epics so popular. Perhaps it is in the translation, which seems to simplify the story too much, that makes the book seem a little too unrealistic. Nevertheless, Cathedral of the Sea is an interesting read in the systems of peasants and nobles in a fourteenth century city, in the different levels of society, and how different careers are performed, as well as what it means when war is declared by the king.

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Arnau Estanyol is the name of the main character of this historic novel, whose life spans along the construction of the Cathedral of the Sea -a real building that you can visit nowadays in Barcelona and dates back to the 14th century. What makes this church unique is that it was built "by the people and for the people", with the help of the "bastaixos" who carried heavy stones on their backs for miles.
Through the eyes of this fictional character you will get an idea of how life was in this part of Spain during that time, with rigurous details. The feudal system, the power of the Church and the role of Inquisition are depicted in a very entertaining way.
The comparison with "Pillars of Earth" is inevitable, but having read both, I consider them quite different both in style and plot.

If you consider yourself a literary gourmet, this is not the book for you. It is akin to the books by Bernard Cornwell or even the Hornblower series --- a fast moving historical novel with accurate history of the time and a coincidence-driven plot. Since I like the Cornwell and Forrester books and got bogged down in Ken Follett's tomes, I loved this book!

The story unfolds linearly, almost as if it's a saga. We follow Arnau, the protagonist, starting with the circumstances surrounding his birth and follow him through old age. Other characters come and go and some of them reappear but there's never a doubt who is the protagonist. The one thing about the plot line that strikes me as true is that Arnau "pinballs" through life, advancing through his response to circumstances. It is one of those stories that is so outlandish, it could have happened!

The English translation is straightforward. The translator uses common Anglo-Saxon words and does not clutter up the translation with literary devices. True, there were shifts in point of view that may confuse. There also was author intrusion with historical data that slowed down the plotline but gave needed insights into a little known period of history.

In short, Cathedral Of The Sea is a great potboiler that was hard to put down.

Fantastic insight into 13th cent Spain. Plot has just the right amount of twists and diverse characters. Loved being put in front of the inquisition. The work of Goya has always intrigued me and this made some of his prints come alive, captions and all. Some unfortunate truths regarding the treatment of women throughout history. I just have to ask, what happened to Mar's first son? Regardless, great learning experience. A pleasurable and informative read.

Wrapped up an English translation of Ildefonso Falcones' Cathedral of the Sea, the story of Spanish Medieval life and the building of Barcelona's famous fourteenth-century church of Santa Maria de la Mar. While many are comparing this novel to The Pillars of the Earth, that's mostly for marketing purposes, as the stories don't share much common ground beyond their mutual church construction. I have mixed feelings about this book, which was sometimes fascinating and at others a slow moving, marginally far-fetched take on the rise of one person from poverty to society's greatest heights, all set during the era of the Black Death and Inquisition. It was descriptive as far as the laws and customs of the era, and some practices of the time are shocking, but it also required a reader to just accept some improbable happenings. I'm glad I read Falcones' work but its sheer size required an investment of about a week to get through. Apparently it was and is a record-setting best seller in Spain but I don't think it's making similar waves here so far.

To steal some of Falcones' favorite devices:

Holding this book open around a third of the way through, I said to myself, "This must be one of the worst books I've ever read." "Yes, it is," a deep voice behind me said. "In fact, it is the worst book ever written." It was God speaking. I had not even noticed him standing there, shaking his head, his voice choked with emotion. He grasped my upper arm. "Put it down, my child. Put it down." I did. As I put the book down, a single tear fell from my deeply moved eyeball. Would I ever pick up this book again? I did not know.

Etc.

When this book captivated me within its first 10 pages I knew I was in for a lost weekend. Relatively successful serf Bernat Estanyol is proud as he hosts his September 1320 wedding party and looks forward to building a future and family with his agreeable new wife, Francesco. An uninvited guest shatters the festivities and the aftermath sets him and his young son off down a road filled with despair, treachery and betrayal. The book was a total escapism for me; what more would one possibly want out of any read?

This is an english translation from the original spanish. I was impressed at how vivedly midevil Barcelona, Catalonia, and the characters were depicted. The story is violent, sweet, and sometimes indifferent in it's treatment of characters. The cruel circumstances of the poor, the sweetness of a friendship between two boys who became brothers, the pain of forbidden love, are all so graphically portrayed so that one moment I was crying and the next I was cheering. If you like historical novels i recommend this book. The detail is rich. I had one problem with the history. The novel referrs to the cultivation of "corn" in the year 1320 in Spain. Obviously, that is not possible. However, I compared the references in the original spanish text and I found that it was the translator who screwed up and not the author.