Similar to King Artur's sword, also in Portugal a sword full of mystery and magic exists. Guarded
throughout centuries by dedicated guardians, she remained almost at everyone's sight until
nowadays, Joan, a young psychiatrist in Santa Maria's Hospital, sees herself sunken in a complex
historical plot leading her to the discovery of her genetic heritage, one carrying the designs of the
highest Knights.
She opened the door jumping out of the car still in movement in Sintra's historical centre by Lord
Byron. Afterwards she rolled through the ground and cringed in the gutter waiting for the car
pursuing them to pass by. In that waiting compass followed by silence it was the sound tearing apart
her senses. All over the sudden all her past had been transformed in an historical narrative not
comprehended in her mind. It was as if she would had been told that all she knew about herself was
a single corner of fantasy dividing her soon in reason and madness. Now it seemed that all
existential meanings supporting what she had ever been were about to be ripped off changing her
future. Joana had just sunk in a path leading her to deal with the greatest discovery of her life. A
path to go through which toll had no price.
Biography
César Alexandre Afonso was born in 1962 in Nuzedo de Cima, Vinhais-Bragança, Portugal. In 1985
entered the Justice Office where he has been ever since in the Judiciary Police. Graduated in
Psychology, he is a psycho- dramatist, founder of ASFICPJ Psychology Services and is a guest
Professor at the Superior Institute of Political and Social Sciences. He has collaborated continuously
in the poetry columns of Jornal de Poetas e Trovadores (Troubadour and Poets Journal), Correio da
Manhã and Diário de Notícias. Foundation Partner of Trás-os-Montes Academia das Letras
(Literature Academy) and the Criminal Investigation and Forensic Sciences Observatory. In 1982 he
published his first book: Sombra da Minha. In 1986 participates in the 4th Contemporary Portuguese
Poetry Anthology. In 1995 publishes Paisagem da Lua Verde. He has also edited Sombras na
Paisagem, closing the poetic cycle dedicated to Trás os Montes with Os Caminhos da Paisagem. In
1996 he appeared anthologized in Flutuante - o vírus na rede dos camelos, iniciativa by Editora
Minerva. While the Spanish edition is on hold, 2014 presents us Espada se Santa Maria second
edition in March 2015.