The Guardian

After 400 years lost, 'cursed' novel of Spain's imperial age is finally published

Previous workers on Golden Age manuscript The Orphan’s Story died, leading to rumours of curse
Mining in Potosi, Bolivia. Photograph: Granger/REX/Shutterstock

Four hundred years after it was written, a lost and supposedly cursed Golden Age novel chronicling the splendour, adventure and violence of Spain’s imperial zenith has been published for the first time.

, or The Orphan’s Story, charts the progress of a 14-year-old Spaniard who leaves Granada and heads to the Americas to seek his fortune. Its hero ricochets around the Spanish empire, from the high-society fiestas of Lima to the and goes on to witness Sir Francis Drake’s attack on Puerto Rico and the sacking of Cádiz.

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