The Barefoot Queen - Softcover

Friendship, betrayal, revenge, and the dawn of Flamenco ...

1748, Seville: Caridad, a former Cuban slave, wanders the streets of the city. Forced to leave behind her young son, she has just arrived by boat to forge a new life for herself in Spain. When she meets Milagros Carmona, a young, rebellious gypsy, the two women instantly become friends. Milagros, like the rest of her people, is standing up to the vicious persecution of gypsies. When Milagros introduces Caridad to her exotic life on the edge of society, her life is changed forever.

From the bustle of 18th-century Seville to the theatres of Madrid, THE BAREFOOT QUEEN is a riproaring tale of friendship, betrayal and identity. Drawing us into the world of tobacco smuggling, music, dance, and gypsies, it tells the magnificent story of the birth of Flamenco.

Ildefonso Falcones' first novel, Cathedral of the Sea became a publishing legend with over a million copies sold in Spain alone. It has since been published in over forty countries, becoming a European bestseller. In The Hand of Fatima, Falcones marked the four hundredth anniversary of the expulsion of the Moors from 17th Century Spain. His latest novel THE BAREFOOT QUEEN has already sold over a million copies in Spain. It tells of the tumultuous birth of Flamenco in Spain. Falcones is a practising lawyer in Barcelona where he lives with his wife and four sons.