The Color of a Dog Running Away

When I opened the door of the flat there was a picture postcard lying in the hallway. It showed a reproduction of a painting by Joan Miró. I turned the card over. Neatly written, in green ink, was what appeared to be a date and time: 20 May--11:00. There was no explanatory message, no indication of who had written the card. The printed details told me that the reproduction was entitled "Woman of the Night." The painting could be found at the Miró Foundation. May 20 was the next day.Lucas, a musician and translator living in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, comes home one day to find this cryptic invitation. When he appears at the appointed time, he sets in motion a series of bizarre, seemingly interconnected events that disrupt his previously passive existence. He meets the alluring Nuria and they begin an intense love affair. He is approached by a band of Barcelona's mythic roof dwellers and has a run-in with a fire-eating prophet....