The Return of Captain Alatriste

These novels have been translated into more than forty languages, and The Adventures of Captain Alatriste series has sold more than four million copies in Spain alone.

The character of Alatriste is unique in Spanish literature: he has transcended the literary dimension to become an iconic figure in the history of this country.

Mission in Paris celebrates the 30th anniversary of the series and appears fourteen years after the publication of The Bridge of Assassins, the seventh and final installment to date.

The series is included in school reading programs in Spain and Latin America and constitutes one of the most celebrated living catalogues of contemporary literature.

Mission in Paris is part of the series starring Diego Alatriste, the iconic soldier of fortune who debuted in 1996 with Captain Alatriste. Throughout six further novels (Limpieza de sangre, El sol de Breda, El oro del rey, El caballero del jubón amarillo, Corsarios de Levante, and El puente de los Asesinos), Arturo Pérez-Reverte explored all aspects of the Spanish Golden Age, incorporating real-life figures such as Francisco de Quevedo into the plot.

For the writer and member of the Royal Spanish Academy, "blurring the boundaries between reality and fiction, and ending up unable to clearly differentiate the living from the imagined, is a source of special pleasure for any author. After all, that's why some of us write novels."

This new book, like the previous ones, will be illustrated by the Spanish artist Joan Mundet.

“Reading is understanding. If you read, if you look at the past, you will be able to better understand the present. If you understand the keys that made Spain what it was, you will better understand the Spain of today,” says Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

Synopsis

It's midnight. Íñigo Balboa, a member of the Catholic King's Royal Couriers, expectantly awaits the arrival of Captain Alatriste, Francisco de Quevedo, and Sebastián Copons in Paris, where he is to deliver some dispatches to the Count of Guadalmedina. They have not met for almost a year, since the risky mission they had to undertake in Venice ended. These are complex times for France: for several months now, the Huguenots of La Rochelle, with English support, have been under a harsh siege by French forces under the command of Cardinal Richelieu. Through Quevedo, Alatriste and his friends find themselves embroiled in a dangerous secret mission devised by the Count-Duke of Olivares. This time, the objective is so grand that the adventure they face could change the course of events forever.

Captain Alatriste

Its hero transcended the boundaries of literature: Agustín Díaz Yanes's 2006 film adaptation, starring Viggo Mortensen, was one of the most ambitious films in Spanish cinema. The Adventures of Captain Alatriste was also turned into a television series in 2015, directed by Enrique Urbizu and starring Aitor Luna as Alatriste, and into a comic created by David Jiménez with drawings by Joan Mundet in 2005. It also inspired role-playing games, postage stamps, a cultural route through the Madrid of Alatriste, and a restaurant in Madrid's Austrias neighborhood (La Taberna del Capitán Alatriste) dedicated to the character.

The author

Arturo Pérez-Reverte was born in Cartagena, Spain, in 1951. He was a war reporter for twenty-one years and covered eighteen armed conflicts for newspapers and television. With more than twenty-seven million readers worldwide, and translated into forty languages, many of his works have been adapted for film and television. Today, he shares his life between literature, the sea, and sailing. He is a member of the Royal Spanish Academy and the French Association of Naval Writers.