In Love and War (En el amor y en la guerra)

In 1442, while fighting to conquer Naples alongside the King of Aragon, Arnau Estanyol watches as his powerful half-brother, Gaspar Destorrent, turns revenge into an obsession, unleashing a story of family tragedies, impossible loves, and struggles for power that will span generations. In Love and War is the third installment in the successful saga that began with The Cathedral of the Sea.

In 1442, Arnau Estanyol, a general under Alfonso V of Aragon, completes the conquest of Naples thanks to a risky nighttime operation: his troops enter the city through the underground aqueducts guided by Paolo, a young Neapolitan. The victory makes Arnau one of the key men of the new kingdom.

Settled in Naples with Sofía—a widow of a fellow soldier—and her children, Arnau consolidates his power at court. But his rise awakens the hostility of his half-brother, Gaspar Destorrent, an influential financier whose wealth supports the king. When Arnau publicly humiliates him for his cowardice, Gaspar decides to destroy him.

The revenge comes in Arnau’s absence. While Arnau is fighting far from the city, Gaspar arranges the assault on his palace and causes the rape of Marina, the nobleman’s teenage stepdaughter. The crime triggers a devastating scandal: rumors about the young woman’s intimacy with her maid lead to accusations of sodomy that turn her into a social outcast. Arnau, convinced of who is behind it, tries to act, but Gaspar’s political and economic power protects him.

With no way out, Marina flees Naples with the help of Paolo, who has always loved her in silence. What begins as a desperate escape turns into a new life: far from the court, the young couple falls in love, marries, and starts a family with the birth of their son, Rocco. Arnau, meanwhile, remains trapped in the kingdom’s military campaigns, unable to bring her back.

Over the years, Paolo prospers and becomes a skilled merchant, operating on the margins of legality. However, his life changes when he meets a Florentine merchant with whom he maintains an intense love affair. The experience reveals a truth he cannot ignore: his desire is directed toward men. From then on, he lives divided between the love he feels for Marina and an identity he cannot openly express, which cools his marriage and shapes his destiny.

The family reunion takes place before the king. Arnau, eager to repair the past, demands punishment for Paolo and custody of his grandson, but Marina stands up to everyone with a firm defense of her life and freedom. She succeeds in preserving her marriage, although she loses her son, who remains under Arnau’s authority to be educated as a nobleman.

After the death of Alfonso V, the balance is broken. The new king, Ferrante, governs in a climate of constant instability, with conspiracies and noble rebellions. Arnau loses political influence, while Gaspar, implicated in intrigues against the Crown, is finally imprisoned.

The years pass. Sofía falls ill and, before dying, demands the reconciliation of the family, forcing everyone to confront their decisions. Arnau, worn down by war and loss, gradually withdraws from the world that has defined his life.

When Gaspar regains his freedom, he reappears in the orbit of Paolo and Marina. His presence reopens the wounds of the past. Upon witnessing a new abuse, Marina finally understands the truth: it was he who raped her years earlier. She decides not to destroy her family with a public scandal, but instead prepares a slow and calculated revenge that will bring about the downfall of her enemy.

Meanwhile, Rocco, raised as a nobleman under Arnau’s guardianship, joins the great rebellion of the barons against Ferrante. After the defeat, he is imprisoned and sentenced to death. Desperate, Paolo mobilizes all his wealth and contacts to save him, managing to have the sentence commuted and organizing his escape.

The ending unfolds in parallel. During a celebration in Naples, Marina recognizes Gaspar hidden among the crowd. She follows him to a secluded beach and kills him with her own hands, definitively closing the circle of violence that has marked her life.

Shortly afterwards, Rocco regains his freedom and the family is reunited. Arnau, now elderly, relinquishes his titles and retires. As he looks at his loved ones, he understands that his entire life—and that of his family—has been governed by the same tension: the struggle between love and violence.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Ildefonso Falcones is a Spanish writer and lawyer, considered one of the most successful authors of historical fiction in the Spanish language. His novels have become an unprecedented publishing phenomenon in Spain, with millions of copies sold worldwide, translations into dozens of languages, and publication in more than forty countries. In addition, his acclaimed novels The Cathedral of the Sea and Heirs to the Land have already been successfully adapted into television series.

Throughout his career, he has received major distinctions, including the Premio Euskadi de Plata (2006), the Premio Qué Leer al mejor libro en español del año (2006), the Premio Fundación José Manuel Lara a la novela más vendida (2006), the Premio Giovanni Boccaccio al mejor autor extranjero (2007), the Premio Fulbert de Chartres (2009), and the Premio Roma de Literatura Extranjera (2010).

In Love and War, the third installment of the saga inaugurated with The Cathedral of the Sea, is an ambitious historical novel of epic scope that combines family drama, romance, adventure, political intrigue, and social critique of the turbulent transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Through more than forty years of history, Ildefonso Falcones constructs an ensemble narrative in which the rise and fall of the Estanyol family intertwines with real historical events, exploring universal themes such as love, loyalty, revenge, freedom, abuses of power, and the condition of women. The novel stands out for the richness of its characters, whose complex emotional arcs span generations and intensely personal conflicts. Its extraordinary audiovisual potential lies in the combination of grand historical settings and a plot full of twists, conspiracies, military confrontations, impossible romances, and memorable characters.

WHAT THE PRESS SAYS

“Ildefonso Falcones is the king of historical fiction.” La Vanguardia

“Falcones is one of those rare storytellers whose success always accompanies them.” ABC

“If only all bestsellers were like this.” El Mundo

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Feature Film, TV Movie.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Portuguese, Dutch, German.