Drawing on Michel de Certeau’s conceptualisation of the city dweller as writer of the urban text, this article examines the spatial dimension of the figure of the prostitute in Mercè Rodoreda’s El carrer de les Camèlies (1966). The article situates the urban scenario in the context of modernity by focusing in particular on the city’s effort to map out a coherent, albeit ideologically laden, urban space. It suggests that through the itineraries traced by the prostitute, transgressor of social, sexual and spatial boundaries, the novel redefines the cityscape and unveils Barcelona’s myriad historical layers and multiple identities.