{"product_id":"the-transparency-of-time-9781250849113","title":"The Transparency of Time","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom Leonardo Padura--whose crime novels featuring Detective Mario Conde form the basis of Netflix's \u003ci\u003eFour Seasons in Havana\u003c\/i\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Transparency of Time\u003c\/i\u003e sees the Cuban investigator pursuing a mystery spanning centuries of occult history.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMario Conde is facing down his sixtieth birthday. What does he have to show for his decades on the planet? A failing body, a slower mind, and a decrepit country, in which both the ideals and failures of the Cuban Revolution are being swept away in favor of a new and newly cosmopolitan worship of money. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRescue comes in the form of a new case: an old Marxist turned flamboyant practitioner of Santería appears on the scene to engage Conde to track down a stolen statue of the Virgen de Regla--a black Madonna. This sets Conde on a quest that spans twenty-first century Havana as well as the distant past, as he delves as far back as the Crusades in an attempt to uncover the true provenance of the statue. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough vignettes from the life of a Catalan peasant named Antoni Barral, who appears throughout history in different guises--as a shepherd during the Spanish Civil War, as vassal to a feudal lord--we trace the Madonna to present-day Cuba. With Barral serving as Conde's alter ego, unstuck in time, and Conde serving as the author's, we are treated to a panorama of history, and reminded of the impossibility of ever remaining on its sidelines, no matter how obscure we may think our places in the action. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEqual parts \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eName of the Rose\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Maltese Falcon\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Transparency of Time\u003c\/i\u003e cements Leonardo Padura's position as the preeminent literary crime writer of our time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Picador USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/14\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781250849113\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 416","brand":"Leonardo Padura","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42114522906805,"sku":"9781250849113","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_52298b79-f5c2-4fd6-ba50-43b44fa3a243.jpg?v=1652151659","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-transparency-of-time-9781250849113","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}