After the Tempest: The Memoirs of a Catalan Immigrant (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781764647809)

La Vall de Santa Creu, Catalonia, 1887.

In an impoverished village where death rises with dawn, young José Paronella finds escape in his grandmother's folklore of kings and castles. Inspired by these fables amid the brutal realities of peasant life, he makes a fierce vow: one day, he will build a castle of his own.

Queensland, Australia, 1913.

Driven by his impossible dream, José crosses the ocean to a wild southern frontier. Survival demands gruelling toil, but determined to alter his destiny, he sets out to wrest a kingdom from the ancient rainforest. Yet as fortune beckons, the shadows of La Mano Nera-the notorious Italian Black Hand-creep up behind him. Caught between a deadly syndicate of extortion and the destructive fury of Mother Nature, José's dream threatens to crumble before the first pillar is raised.