What could a Moor and a Christian living in the seventeenth century possibly have to write to each other about? The answer to that question is found in The Book of Disappearances & The Book of the Tractations--an extravagant and playful book-object based on a correspondance that miraculously survived fire and destruction via rodent. These letters are the living testimonial to secret deals and passionate debate between the two communities. By following the thread of vowels and consonants printed in bold type and strung and hidden throughout the main text, readers can retrace the story of a captive girl from Marrakech whose story echoes that of the prostitute who incarned Spain in Velasquez's scandal-stirring painting, 'The Allegory of the Expulsion of the Moors.' This delicate, wonderous and precious book is a real adventure for the reader who attempts to differentiate between the puzzle's daring fiction and reality.
