Joan Orpí (Piera, 1593 - New Barcelona, 1645) is one of the most unknown characters in Spanish history. In this torrential book we are told the odyssey that brought him first to Barcelona, later to Sevilla and finally to America, where he would experience all kinds of outlandish situations.

Using historical facts as raw material, and with stellar appearances of characters such as Miguel de Cervantes or the brigand Serrallonga among others, Besora converses with the satirical tradition of works such as Gargantua and Pantagruel, Gulliver's Travels or Don Quixote, to paint a fresco of Catalonia in the seventeenth century and the Golden Age of the Spanish empire, creating a novel, fresh, sharp and bursting with exuberant adventures.

A triumphant, playful masterpiece brought into a unique style of English thanks to the triumphant creativity of translator Mara Faye Lethem.

After starting his career as a poet, Max Besora has gone on to publish three novels, including "Volcano" and "The Adventures and Misadventures of the Extraordinary and Admirable Joan Orpi, Conquerer and Founder of Catalonia," which received the 2018 City of Barcelona Prize for Catalan Literature. He's a jazz trumpeter and is currently co-writing a non-fiction book about rap music.