Barcelona has 73 neighbourhoods, some of which are largely unknown. Neighbourhoods inhabited by perhaps 20,000 people. Each one with its own idiosyncrasy, its history, its people. Does anyone know where Sant Genís dels Agudells is? It sounds like a village in the Pyrenees, doesn't it? Well, no, it's at the foot of Tibidabo. In the heart of the city there are also those who pass by discreetly. For example, the Sant Pere neighbourhood, which you may know from the triplet of parallel streets of Sant Pere Més Alt, Mitjà and Més Baix. Do you know anything else? These winding streets are the core of a sector of the old city, with narrow, damp streets, intense smells, and a dense but forgetful memory. They border above with the stately Eixample. It is surely the sector of the Gothic Quarter that is less Gothic, less sugary, and yet more medieval. It forms a unit with Santa Caterina and la Ribera. Tourists tend to go to the last two. From the top, they usually don't go beyond the Palau de la Música.

The passage, the novel with which Maria Carme Roca (Barcelona, ​​​​1955) has won the Santa Eulàlia prize for the novel, worth 25,000 euros, and begins in the booming Barcelona of the late 19th century. The demolition of the city walls, the construction of the Eixample, the effervescent world of theatre and the hive of textile factories – full of workers and activity – are the background for a story of friendship, love and revenge starring the painter and muralist Josep Maria Sert, and a humble girl from the Sant Pere neighbourhood.