Alfred Bosch is a novelist, essayist, university professor and politician. His novels include L’Atlas furtiu (‘Furtive Atlas’, winner of the 1997 Premio Sant Jordi), the 1714 trilogy and Les set aromas del mundo (‘The Seven Scents of the World’, winner of the 2004 Premio Ramon Llull). He has published numerous articles and books about the current state of affairs in Africa, contemporary Europe and the Catalan question. From 2011-2020 he was active in politics, first in the Catalan Congress of Deputies, then in the Barcelona City Council and finally as the Catalan government’s councillor for foreign relations. This novel marks his return to literature and it is for readers to decide whether or not he should have left it.