The book's origin lies in an advertisement published in a local United States newspaper, where a woman publicly congratulated her husband for getting his mistress pregnant. This event, which went viral on social media, allowed Agnès Marquès to build a plot that questions the loss of privacy and the responsibility of information professionals in the digital age.
The author, who currently hosts the program La tarda de Catalunya Ràdio, traveled to a remote town in the American Bible Belt for research. There, she managed to locate the original ad in the physical archives of a newspaper with nearly 150 years of history, confirming the truth behind a story that had spread globally without verification.
“"We have lost the essence of journalism because of clickbait. We should act with more responsibility, not only as journalists but as people."
Through the protagonist, Ginebra Vern, the novel published by Columna maps out the risks facing the profession. Marquès uses the narrative to reflect on how social media immediacy and the pursuit of easy clicks are replacing traditional verification mechanisms, fostering confusion and discredit within the industry.
