An old man recounts the story of his childhood, as he remembers it, living in a brothel in the time of the Roman Empire in Spain.
Spoilers for the ending of the novel:
Given the way the in-universe author frames the story he’s about to tell, I was expecting for the novel to be more epic in scope and cover a much longer span of the narrator’s life.
Instead, we only get to see ~4-6 years of the narrator’s childhood. The events of those years were captivating to read through but I was a little disappointed I didn’t get the epic story I was expecting to read.