Álvaro Enrigue

Set in 1519, You Dreamed of Empires imagines the encounter between Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and Aztec ruler Moctezuma in the magnificent city of Tenochtitlan. Rather than presenting the conquest as a straightforward story of European victory, Enrigue focuses on the political manoeuvring, cultural misunderstandings, and competing ambitions surrounding this pivotal meeting. Through shifting perspectives and dark humour, the novel portrays the Spanish as vulnerable outsiders entering a sophisticated civilisation whose inhabitants have their own political struggles and visions of the future. Its dreamlike atmosphere unsettles familiar historical narratives, exposing the uncertainty and violence beneath the language of conquest. Enrigue reimagines a defining moment in Mexican history while questioning how empires construct stories about power, civilisation, and inevitable victory.

Set in Renaissance Italy, Bomarzo tells the story of Pier Francesco Orsini, a physically deformed nobleman who becomes the Duke of Bomarzo. Intelligent, sensitive, and deeply conscious of his appearance, he grows up surrounded by cruelty, political intrigue, and family rivalries. Determined to overcome his vulnerabilities and secure his place in a world obsessed with power and beauty, he navigates the dangerous world of Renaissance aristocracy. Narrated from beyond the grave, his story blends historical events with fantasy, philosophical reflection, and dark humor. Through Orsini’s life and his creation of the extraordinary Garden of Monsters, Manuel Mujica Lainez explores mortality, ambition, identity, and humanity’s enduring desire to defy death.