Arturo Pérez-Reverte Announces New Alatriste Novel

"The most frequent question from Arturo Pérez-Reverte's readers during book signings is undoubtedly: When is there going to be a new Captain Alatriste?" recalls Pilar Reyes, editorial director of Alfaguara. The answer comes today from the author himself and his publisher, via the social network X (formerly Twitter). The eighth book in the saga of the emblematic Spanish swordsman will be in bookstores in September.

After fourteen years of waiting since the last installment, 'The Bridge of Assassins', fans of the adventures of the soldier of the Spanish Tercios turned mercenary swordsman will find in the new book, in the author's own words, a "true Alatriste". That is: "adventures, duels, plots, History... It is a deliberately adventurous novel," explains the Spanish writer in the promotional video published by Alfaguara for the upcoming release.

'Mission in Paris' is the title of the eagerly awaited book, and in it, the protagonist finds himself "in a wonderfully constructed game between reality and fiction," as Reyes appreciates, with the musketeers. They will sit at the same table and participate in the same battle. Pérez-Reverte thus once again nods to Alexandre Dumas. He did so, albeit differently, in one of his early successful works, 'The Flanders Panel'. This time, the approach is clearly more immersive.

Despite the French backdrop, the Spain of the Golden Age will continue to be the setting where the writer crafts Alatriste's adventures. "That Spain that had the world by the throat, with those fearsome swordsmen, hustlers... Tercios that ravaged the world, leaving their mark of blood and glory at the same time," describes the writer from Cartagena, emphasizing his desire to tell History in such a way that both the lights and shadows of the era are seen. "Glory and misery; barbarism and tenderness," he says.

Thus, the author invites readers to play at being a character from the 17th century. "Reading is understanding," he advocates as a method to comprehend the present of our country, starting from the knowledge of its past.

With this phrase, he somehow alludes to a teenage audience who, as noted by the editorial director of Alfaguara, could be introduced to Alatriste's stories by their parents, who are now in their 40s and who have grown up with the fiction of this anti-hero since it 'was born' in 1996 in the first book of the saga, 'Captain Alatriste'.

"I am sure that those readers who are now 40 years old will want to share this project with their children," concludes Reyes.