El Efebo is a fascinating historical novel set in Toledo in the 16th century. In the form of a diary, it tells the story of an inquisitorial process in which the famous painter El Greco intervenes among the protagonists. A historical newscast written by Joaquín Pérez-Minguez and edited by Opera Prima.
El Efebo: These were hard times in Spain, in the words of Teresa de Ávila, during the second half of the 16th century.
Wars held abroad decimated the state coffers; unhealthy conditions and frequent epidemics decimated the population.
A wave of moral misery and suspicion was taking hold of the people.
This is the setting for the diary of the scribe of Toledo’s Inquisition, Sebastián, which constitutes the present novel. A diary addressed to his recently deceased daughter.
A diary that is, at the same time, memory and expectation. Memory of a past affliction and expectation that is intended to make present – from an unexpected discovery – of justice, beauty and freedom.
” El Efebo” is a historical novel that recounts the inquisitorial process of a Greek, accused of belonging to the sect of Mohammed, in which the narrator Sebastian, as scribe, and the illustrious painter of that time and place, El Greco, intervene as translator.
The history of the trial extends and relaxes like a heart that never ceases to beat and burn in a world of precious yearnings. Perhaps chimeras.
Joaquín Pérez-Mínguez was born in Madrid, 1943. He has a degree in Law and Theology, although since he was a child his true vocation has been literature.
At the age of ten, taking advantage of a small inheritance from his godmother, he bought a typewriter with which he began to create dreams, poems, stories… At the age of eighteen he began to work for a while as an advertising editor.
Some time later, he began to learn literary technique in the workshops taught by Laura Freixas at the Círculo de Bellas Artes.
Later, she joined the Creative Writing Workshop of Clara Obligado, where she stayed for more than ten years. There she published three stories: “El tema” (1994), “Incontinencia” (1997) and “Cultivos celestiales” (1999).
“El Efebo” is his second novel and is part of a trilogy of independent readings based on the Inquisition, which began in 2012 with the publication of “Zocodover”.
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