In 2052 the world order is no longer what it was. A new OttomanEmpire, ruled by Sultan Mehmed IX, dominates the West after winningthe Poetic War with a deadly and destructive virus. Europe has beenlaid to waste and very few people remain. The Sultan is a booklover,and in the Constitution that he put in place when he came to power, it states that under his rule, those who had the largest number ofcookbooks will have access to more power and prestige. The Sultan andhis two friends (a noble and an emir), the three people in the Empirewith the biggest libraries, make a bet: whoever gets hold of the first edition of N. Luján and J. Perucho?s cookbook will absorb thelibraries belonging to the other two. To try to win, each one choosesa team of book hunters. Mehmed?s is headed by Alfred Muntaner, who was born in Barcelona and knew Joan Perucho when he was a child, as thejournalist and writer was a customer at his father?s bookbindingworkshop.
The adventure takes them to Barcelona, a city that is almost deserted, populated only by small groups of guerrillasurvivors and invaded by vegetation that is growing out of control. In this scenario, they find the book they are seeking. But Alfred hasother plans: he makes it look like he has died during a skirmish withthe idea of never returning to Istanbul and starting a new life inBarcelona.
