The Vatican swindle : $b (Les caves du Vatican)

In the bustling heart of Rome, a staunch atheist and freemason named Anthime Armand‑Dubois arrives under the pretense of seeking a rheumatology cure, yet his true purpose is far more audacious. He shares a cramped, oddly designed townhouse with his devout, childless wife Veronica, whose daily rituals clash with his cynical experiments conducted in an improvised laboratory hidden behind a sun‑lit orangery. Their uneasy coexistence is punctuated by furtive passages, strained conversations, and the ever‑present hum of a city that seems to mock both faith and folly.

Soon, a rag‑tag boy named Beppo slips into their orbit, acting as a reluctant go‑between for a shadowy network that promises a daring scheme against the Vatican’s hidden vaults. As Anthime’s obsessive curiosity intertwines with Veronica’s desperate hope for a miracle, the pair find themselves drawn into a labyrinth of intrigue that teeters between intellectual rebellion and the absurdity of their own contradictions. The stage is set for a witty, morally tangled adventure that probes belief, desire, and the limits of human rationality.