The Setting

In this fast-paced adventure, Amat and his friends move between countless emblematic places in the city and turn-of-the-century Barcelona becomes a character in itself. A city of lights and shadows, where life and death pulse behind each corner, and where anything can happen walking around its streets after sundown.

You can still find some of these places we visit here today: the Monjuich Cemetery, the Ramblas, the Labyrinth Park, Columbus’s monument or the many cafés mentioned in the novel. Other places have changed over time, like Santa Cruz Hospital, which is now the headquarters of several big companies; the Old Faculty of Medical Sciences, now converted into the main office of the Catalonian Royal Academy of Medicines; or the 1888 World’s Fair central ground, which now is Ciutadella Park, and still hosts some of the original buildings such as the Three Dragons Castle (el Castillo de los Tres Dragones), the Arch of Triumph (el Arco de Triunfo), or the Glass House (el Umbráculo).

Sadly, other fascinating spaces in the city have disappeared overtime; these include the Nueva Belen Sanatorium, where today the CosmoCaixa Science Museum takes its place; Can Tunís Hippodrome; El Torin Bullring, where one of the most renowned revolts in the city took place; the Lyric Theater; or the imposing Amalia Prison.

There are also made-up settings in the novel; magical, mysterious places. It’s up to the reader to discover them…