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 half a million copies in the Spanish language alone. 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.