Book summary

Jose Daniel Fierro interrupts his work on a novel (this one, in fact) in order to investigate the disappearance of a young female basketball player from the U.S., whom he has adored from afar. His path is crossed by spies, notorious anarchists, and crime reporters as the action shifts between 1920s Barcelona and Mexico City. Leonardo da Vinci's invention of the bicycle, 400 years before the first was built, looms over the entire story as a paradigm which "had demonstrated the impossibility of the realm of the impossible, and had thereby thrown open the door to hope."

Media reviews

"Like Dickens, Taibo sets vividly described characters in manic motion, challenging readers to decipher what they're up to and how thier separate pursuits are interconnected....Dazzling if dense, entertainment."