TRIOMFADOR

Triomfador is the storyboth personal and universalof a somewhat timid small-town boy who dreams of becoming a professional basketball player, and who one day receives an offer to train with the youth teams of F.C. Barcelona.

But as soon as the boy settles in to La Masia (the residence hall for the future Barça football and basketball stars) all hell breaks loose. Without any adult supervision, the boys' living situation is suffocating and every imaginable abuse is commonplace. The novel is set in the 1990s, the supposed golden age of the Barça youth teams, and based on true events. Joan Jordi Miralles uncovers everything the media never told us about: the oppressive, hostile environment to which those who aspire to become elite athletes are subjected. This is a story of psychological, physical, and sexual abuses, and exorbitant rivalries between dehumanised characters trapped in a pressure-cooker adolescence. This fast-paced, direct, and powerful book is from the pen of one of the most-lauded authors of his generation. It is both a personal story of one boy's rise and fall, and a cross-section that reveals the darkest innards of an institution that is beloved throughout the world. Joan Jordi Miralles (1977) has received many awards for his work. He has published the novels L'altíssim (Tres i Quatre, 2005 - Andròmina Prize), L'úter de la balena (Moll, 2010 - Vila de Lloseta Prize), Una dona meravellosa (La Breu, 2014) and Aglutinació (Edicions 62, 2018 - Joanot Martorell Prize), as well as the short-story collection La intimitat de les bèsties (Empúries, 2017 - Marian Vayreda Prize), and the plays Això és Àustria (Lleonard Muntaner, 2012 - Pare Colom Prize for Mediterranean Theatre) and Els nens feliços (Males Herbes, 2016).