A fascinating novel by a classic of modern Latin American literature, dedicated to the mysterious death of the famous Duchess of Alba and attempts to unravel this mystery. Among the characters are the painter Goya and the all-powerful Manuel Godoy, prime minister and favorite of the queen...In 1999, a film was made based on this novel with Penelope Cruz in the title role.

(back cover) Antonio Larreta is a prominent Latin American writer, born in 1922 in Montevideo. Lived in Uruguay, Argentina, Spain, worked as an actor and director in theater, film and television, studied the history of Spain. It is no coincidence that it was he who was asked to write a film script for the film adaptation of the novel “The Fencing Teacher” by Arturo Perez-Reverte. In 1980, the writer became a laureate of the prestigious Spanish literary prize "Planet" for the novel "Who Killed the Duchess of Alba, or Volaverunt".

Who guards the secrets of the Madrid court? Who posed for Goya for "Maja Nude"? What does it mean? — “Volaverunt”? And finally, who killed the Duchess of Alba? In 1802, all of Spain is shocked by the mysterious death of the powerful Duchess of Alba. The country is full of gossip: what was it - a transient fever, as the official version claims, or suicide, the result of an addiction to white powder from the distant Andes, or a murder - out of revenge, out of passion, by mistake... A few decades later they are trying to solve the ominous riddle the great painter Francisco Goya and former Prime Minister Manuel Godoy, the favorite of Queen Marie-Louise, and their revelations are commented on in a new historical perspective by our contemporary, who accidentally became the owner of a package of priceless documents.