M s de quince a os despu s de la publicaci n de Soldados de Salamina, Javier Cercas regresa a la guerra civil espa ola con una novela m s ntima y personal, que indaga en el pasado m s inc modo de su familia.

Esta es la novela que Javier Cercas se hab a estado preparando para escribir desde que quiso ser novelista. O desde antes. En ella se narra la b squeda del rastro perdido de un muchacho casi an nimo que pele por una causa injusta y muri en el lado equivocado de la historia. Se llamaba Manuel Mena, y en 1936 se incorpor al ej rcito de Franco; muri en la batalla del Ebro, y durante d cadas se convirti en el h roe oficial de su familia. Era t o abuelo de Javier Cercas, quien siempre se neg a indagar en su historia, hasta que se sinti obligado a hacerlo. El resultado es una novela absorbente, plet rica de acci n, de humor y de emoci n, que nos enfrenta a los temas esenciales de la narrativa de Cercas: la naturaleza radiante y poli drica del hero smo, la terca pervivencia de los muertos o la carga del pasado m s inc modo. Exploraci n local y universal, personal y colectiva, belicosamente antibelicista, El monarca de las sombras da una vuelta de tuerca a la pregunta sobre la herencia de la guerra que Cercas abri a os atr s con Soldados de Salamina. ENGLISH DESCRIPTIONFrom the internationally renowned author of The Impostor, a courageous journey into his own family history and that of a country collapsing from a fratricidal war--his most moving, most personal book, one he has spent his entire life preparing to write.

Javier Cercas grew up hearing the legend of his adored great-uncle Manuel Mena, who died at nineteen in the bloodiest battle of the Spanish Civil War--while fighting for Franco's army. Who was this young man? A fascist hero whose memory is an embarrassment or a committed idealist who happened to fall on the wrong side of history? Is it possible to be a moral person defending an immoral cause? Through visits back to his parents' village in southern Spain, interviews with survivors, and research into the murkiest corners of the war, the author pieces together the life of this enigmatic figure and of an entire generation. This sui generis work combines intimate family history, investigative scholarship, personal confession, war stories, and road trips, finally becoming a transcendent portrait of a country's indelible scars--a book about heroism, death, the persistence of the past, and the meaning of an individual life against the tapestry of history.