Inspired by a real encounter that marked his life, the new novel by bestselling author Javier Sierra plunges us into the pursuit of an ancestral secret: a master plan that, through art, connects our species with gods, angels, and guiding beings who have steered history since the dawn of time.
Javier Sierra will never forget the time he was approached at the Prado Museum by a stranger with a hypnotic presence, a man named Luis Fovel, who whispered to him an unforgettable secret: there exists a hidden list of masterpieces—the Arcanon—that serve as portals to other worlds. Before Javier could ask him more, the man vanished without a trace. Twelve years later, that memory resurfaces when, inside prehistoric caves in Cantabria, Sierra’s children discover painted figures invisible to experts. Javier realizes that the “gaze of children” can perceive in art what the rest of the world has forgotten.
In Paris, Father Luc Durand, a Jesuit passionate about art, encounters Belfegor in the Louvre, an elderly man who speaks to him about Sumerian sages in the form of fish—the apkallus—and then transforms into one of them before his eyes. Overwhelmed, Durand travels to Madrid where, together with the scholar Jon Einar and Ángela Qiao, a researcher at the Prado Museum, he uncovers clues in the works of Bosch and Goya pointing to the existence of “instructor masters” who have guided humanity since ancient times. Some myths call them divine teachers, others daimons, angels, or spirits. Qiao confesses that she too saw Fovel, who left her a poem-riddle capable of completing the Arcanon.
But not everyone wants the truth to come out. Julián de Prada, Einar’s mentor, is the leader of a network that combats the mystical vision of art (known as the “second sight”) and defends a rational approach. In a meeting with Einar, he warns him that the return of Fovel could restore to the world that transcendent gaze they are determined to suppress. He orders him to travel to Florence and Mexico to intercept the masters before they recruit new apprentices. Meanwhile, Javier, obsessed with the cave paintings and their transcendental power, travels to Lascaux, where with the help of astrologer Antoine Lerroux, he follows the trail of Paleolithic figures aligned with constellations and ancestral myths.
In Florence, Einar realizes he is too late: Belfegor has already revealed to a group of young people the “second sight” of art before Botticelli’s Primavera. Later in Mexico, at Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul, Einar faces Xochiquétzal, a master who protects Marielita, a girl chosen by a painting to become her apprentice. She reveals to him that Fovel is “the great fish,” a time traveler whose return is imminent, and accuses the “watchers” like Einar and De Prada of depriving humanity of the knowledge that could free it from its rational shackles.
Back in Madrid, Javier joins Durand and Qiao. The three gather under the vault painted by Luca Giordano in the Casón del Buen Retiro. Thanks to their research, and with Lerroux’s help, they discover that the decoration of the vault may hold the answer to the riddle-poem Fovel left Qiao. The fresco depicts a horoscope announcing, for the following day, a planetary alignment that Qiao interprets as the signal of Fovel’s return. The countdown begins. Which artwork will serve as Fovel’s portal? Javier knows only the gaze of children will be able to identify it. Thus begins Operation Vultus: Javier’s children will be the ones to search for the piece in the Casón del Buen Retiro and the Prado Museum.
Sofía, his daughter, guided by an almost supernatural intuition, discovers in the Prado the portrait of Luis Veldrof—an anagram of Dr. Fovel, the name Javier had once heard. When Javier looks at it with the eyes of a child, Fovel appears. He reveals that he comes from a future where art has perished, a victim of humanity’s rational gaze, and that his mission is to preserve art as a bridge to the transcendent. The Arcanon, marked with the secret signature of the fish-man, retains its power if contemplated with that gaze. Before vanishing, Fovel issues his warning: Javier’s name is written in “the master plan.” His destiny and that of his family are sealed, and the true battle for art has only just begun.
RELEVANT INFORMATION: Javier Sierra is a Spanish bestselling author, the only one to have reached the Top 10 of the New York Times list in the United States. Among many other recognitions, he won the Premio Planeta, and his works have been translated into more than forty languages.
While not a direct sequel to The Master of the Prado, which was inspired by a mysterious encounter the author himself experienced at the Prado Museum, The Master Plan connects with the universe of that novel and recovers some of its characters. It is a story of intrigue and mystery with historical and fantastical elements that blends art, archaeology, astronomy, and mythology in a fast-paced narrative with an atmosphere of wonder. The mix of intrigue, investigation, conspiracy, and supernatural elements delivers a thrilling story with strong audiovisual potential, in a style reminiscent of The Da Vinci Code, but with a more magical and poetic tone.
AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Feature Film, TV Film.
AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish, Catalan.
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