Searching for a house to rent in 1999, Michael Jacobs was offered one in the Andalucian olivegrowing community of Frailes. This was a place where the modern world enjoyed a strange co-existence with a virgin Andalucia ruled by a dynasty of saintly healers. It was not long before he decided to take up more permanent residence above the Discoteca Oh! As he shared in each season's special events, Michael's life became increasingly tied up with this village threatened by drought, unemployment and decreasing population. He was taken under the wing of El Sereno, an elderly Romeo, while his friendship with the village social worker Merce - a woman who held court in a bar situated inside a cave - led him deeper into a miraculous world. Miracles were needed to save the place; and miracles began happening. With his dream of inviting a legendary Spanish actress to the village's abandoned Art Deco cinema, the truly unimaginable occurred, and the name of Frailes became known even to Hollywood.

Author Biography

Michael Jacobs was born in Italy and studied Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, from which he has a doctorate. His numerous books include 'Andalucia', 'Between Hopes and Memories: A Spanish Journey' and most recently 'Alhambra'. He has also translated a number of Spanish and Latin American plays. He is a member of the Andalucian Academy of Gastronomy and in 2002 was made the first foreign knight of 'The Very Noble and Illustrious Order of the Wooden Spoon'. When not in Spain, he lives in London.