Ultima Escala

On March 24, 1916, the composer and pianist Enrique Granados returned to Barcelona after achieving triumph in New York with the premiere of his opera, *Goyescas*. As he was crossing the English Channel--with mere miles remaining before reaching port--a German submarine fired a torpedo at the ship on which he was traveling. His wife fell into the sea, and although Granados could not swim, he plunged into the water to save her. Witnesses recounted that they perished locked in an embrace, swept away by the waves. Driven by curiosity after stumbling upon this episode by chance, the book's narrator decides to retrace the musician's footsteps in the present day. Blending historical recreation with contemplative reflection, this novel delves into a Barcelona in the throes of Modernist fervor and explores the singular life of a pianist of prodigious--albeit late-blooming--talent. *Última escala* is a tribute to memory and to art's capacity to transcend time, probing the mystery of music and its power to move us.