Barcelona's expansion plan is in full swing and with these plots of land on the outskirts of town are rapidly changing value depending on the rumours of where metro lines will be created.

After this he is forced into retirement however by this stage he is one of the most power and rich men in Spain, he obsessively renovates his Mansion while ignoring his family and spending the majority of his nights in brothels.

As the book draws to a close, Onofre becomes more pensive and meets another woman who takes his fancy whose father is an inventor who he had met many years ago, he agrees to support his project to build a form of blimp.

After discussing the various ways the novel captures and intrigues the reader, Jonathan Franzen, writing for the Los Angeles Times, states, " It’s all fairly interesting, but when the book ends ... what lingers is not the memory of a real Onofre Bouvila but only the spirit of the hard, flamboyant era he represents.

"[1] Franzen further states that "though modern-day Catalonians may find fascinating his account of Barcelona’s architectural growing pains, the impartial reader working through the 10th dense page of it may be forgiven for asking: Is this book for me?

"[2] Publishers Weekly added, "Unfortunately, the characterization remains opaque, though the novel entertains and informs with its panorama of Catalan politics and social life, the advent of cinema and flying machines, and amusing cameos of Rasputin and Mata Hari.