Carmen Ariza

The story opens beneath a Caribbean sunrise that pours over the red‑tiled roofs of colonial Cartagena. In a stark stone cell of the ecclesiastical college, a young priest of about twenty‑five kneels, his olive skin and black curls marking his Latin roots. Though he offers no spoken prayer, his clenched hands and trembling body reveal a soul caught between duty and restless yearning. When a novitiate delivers a summons to the cathedral, he steps onto a streetscape teeming with barefoot market women, laughing children, and the mingled chants of church bells and distant muezzins.

The city itself becomes a character, a collage of Spanish convents, African rhythms, and Caribbean trade that frames his inner struggle. As he walks toward the cathedral, the reader senses a conflict between rigid faith and the chaotic life surrounding him. He will be drawn into tangled politics, forbidden romances, and moral dilemmas of a society where miracles and superstition coexist. Listeners are invited to follow his rebellion and discover what it means to seek redemption in a world where sun burns fiercely as hidden secrets.