Daughter of Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg and Maria of Austria, archduchess Margaret is the central figure of this historical and literary novel, together with the composer Tomás Luis de Victoria. Set in the Europe of the wars of religion during the reigns of Philip II and Philip IV, with the Black Legend as a background, this tableau of shadows and illusions portrays the power and the glory of key figures such as Emperor Rodolfo II in his court of alchemists in the castle of Pargue, artists such as Arcimboldo and Cervantes, legends such as those of Golem or the Bloody Countess and, of course, that miseries and madnesses of the House of Habsburg. From the convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid where she lived, and covering scenes as disparate as the naval battle of Lepanto and imperial cities such as Vienna, Prague and Budapest, the archduchess Margaret paints a fascinating portrait of the music of her time.