"The twelfth century gave us the the birth of Human Rights, a great triumph for Humanity."

“The Water Trial” is the fourth historical novel published by the Alicante writer, Juan Francisco Ferrándiz, a true specialist in the Middle Ages. On this occasion he tells a story about the origins of modern law after several centuries of repression.  Roman law returned at the end of the twelfth century to be present among the different kingdoms of Christendom, after having been supressed for the benefit of the feudal lords who applied the law at their convenience.

The novel has an spectacular beginning, where Juan Francisco Ferrándiz narrates an ordeal or judgment of God, where the main characters are two children barely one year old, to later focus on the flourishing of Roman law and a new way of exercising justice, which had been in the hands of those feudal lords who held that justice and power came from God. The author, who practices law in Valencia, is discovering in the novel how the law undergoes a great transformation in search of justice that for many years had remained blind to the abuses of the powerful.

Read entire interview here: TodoLiteratura