The Brotherhood of the Fallen Angel, Josep Pla Award 2024, is the book presented this Friday at the Francesc Pujols Library. The work of the journalist and historian Jaume Clotet, it tells how in Acre, the Holy Land, in 1291, a group of Templar knights flee the dying Kingdom of Jerusalem. They take away Christendom’s best kept secret. It is vital that it does not fall into the hands of infidels and that it is kept in the safest place in the world.
Jaume Clotet has said that the book is a thriller which first “is located in 13th century Jerusalem, where this mystery is born, an object, a secret that must be preserved. From here, the novel connects with current Catalonia”. “The brotherhood is the organization whose objective is to watch over this secret. They are its guardians and must guard it.”
Jaume Clotet, periodista i historiador
The enigma is in danger of being revealed and action must be taken without delay. A monk from Montserrat will be the involuntary protagonist of an extraordinary adventure that will change his life forever and that threatens the most sacred basilica of the Catalans. A war between good and evil in which everything is at stake, with a battle that has no victors or vanquished but which may put at risk the foundations of the Catholic Church itself.
In this way, from the mystery and intrigue in which the plot of the novel is woven, it is possible to access a detailed social and political description of Barcelona in the 19th century, in which societies are emphasized secrets (with hidden rituals and beliefs) and a series of stories around conspiracies, corruption and power struggles.
The emergence of these themes appears in line with a critical vision of reality, embodied in the protagonist who works as a journalist and researcher, which allows the reader to explore the task and role of journalism and information in society.
“The plot is fanciful and implausible, which is why I was afraid that the reader would not connect with it. I put as many historical elements as possible as anchors to reality. Elements that can resonate with the reader and that for me are the fundamental pillar”, adds the author.
Jaume Clotet, periodista i historiador
Jaume Clotet i Planas (Barcelona, 1974) holds a degree in Journalism from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and in History from the University of Barcelona. He was a correspondent in the Basque Country between 2001 and 2003 for the newspaper Today and the broadcaster Ona Catalana and was later head of press for the Government Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia, deputy director of the Catalan News Agency, head of the newspaper’s policy Todaydirector general of Government Communication and director of Communication at Pompeu Fabra University.
He is co-author of The best works of Catalan literature (commented by the censor) (2010) and the novel free or dead (2012), with which he sold more than 20,000 copies. He is also the author of several children’s stories and the book 50 essential moments in the history of Catalonia (2014), and is a co-author of the essay Defense policy and the State itself (2017). In 2016 he won the Nèstor Luján Prize for Historical Novel with The outlawed Cathar.
Throughout his career he has taught at the International University of Catalonia and the University of Vic, and has been a consultant on journalistic processes and communication strategy. He regularly collaborates with various media.
Source: martorelldigital.cat
