At noon on October 4, 1599, two unusual rivals meet on the public tennis court in Piazza Navona in Rome. One is a famous artist from Lombardy, whose work will forever change the ideas of his contemporaries about painting. The other is a young poet who later became one of the pillars of the golden age of Spanish literature. The adventure novel introduces familiar characters (Galileo, Caravaggio, Quevedo, Cortez and many others) as we have never seen them before, and challenges everything we know about European colonialism, history, art and modernity. The book was awarded the prestigious Erralde Prize in Spain (2013), the Elena Poniatowska International Prize in Mexico and the Barcelona Prize. Translated into several languages. Alvaro Enrigue (b. 1969) is a Mexican writer, literary critic, and publisher. He taught at New York University, Princeton University, Columbia University, and the University of Maryland. Born in Guadalajara, lives in New York.