A BALADA DOS UNICORNIOS

A balada dos unicornios (Ballad of the Unicorns) was created as a gift to honour the 25th anniversary of the Banda de Música de Chapela, band conducted by the author. This composition also represents the consolidation of the professional relationship between the author and the award-winning writer Ledicia Costas. This alliance began back in 2018 with the creation of a musical piece for her also award-winning novel Escarlatina, a cociñeira defunta.

This symphonic poem of approximately nine minutes of duration is a musical journey through Victorian London and the characters that Ledicia Costa introduces in her novel. The story of A balada dos unicornios takes place in the city of London in an atmosphere that could be identified as steampunk.

Ágata-McLeod, a mechanical girl, heads with determination to the School of Arts and Crafts to visit her friend León, who is ill. Tick-tock –a robot created by Ágata herself that later will become a determinant factor for her to achieve the Genius level goes with her.

Wendy the albino queen and Cornelia leader of the Corvida Clan and principal of the School of Arts and Crafts stand as two strong antagonists.

Ágata was raised orphaned and eyeless (they were replaced in her childhood by mechanical ones) in the School of Arts and Crafts by her aunt, the evil Cornelia. She will forge a very special friendship with León, who has a very special talent that will get them both into trouble. Also with Nuno, who is León's brother and a flying boy.

A balada dos unicornios is a novel full of imagination and magic. The story discovers the macabre actions of Jack the Ripper, the notorious killer of prostitutes in the district of Whitechapel. It also introduces the Hermit, another important character in the life of Agatha, and the Beetle Cave, a place that “houses life and death since the beginning of time."

We will enter the Royal Palace of Wendy, the albino queen, and we will learn what happens in the huge hall located in the golden tower. We will also travel to the Children's Planet, walk through the Floating Meadows that are hanging in the sky, go to the City of Dogs and meet the king Dogo and his daughter White Dogo. Later, we will travel to the country of the Giant and its mysterious forest where the hermit lives hidden. Flying teapots, secret maps... a narrative that captures the reader’s attention in each page.

Fantasy and science are mixed in a relentless struggle that pits crows and unicorns against each other.