ESPARTACUS PRIZE 2020 - "I am Don Pedro Blanco. Slave trader. Madman. Giant or monster. Mongo Blanco. The Great Wizard, the Mirror, the Sun. The King of Gallinas. Pirate. Father. Brother. From the slums of Malaga to an African throne, from the wonders of Havana to a madhouse in Barcelona. A pistol. If I had a pistol, I’d spatter the walls with my brains. This is the story of my guilt and my penitence."

Following his father’s death, Pedro Blanco leaves Malaga and goes to sea in search of a better future. Both cunning and determined, he gradually makes his way in the world and becomes Mongo Blanco, one of the greatest slave traffickers of the 19th century. But when he is betrayed by somebody close to him, his fall into disgrace begins. He recounts his story to the doctor in the asylum to which he has been confined, little suspecting that his story has not yet finished and that a figure from his past has returned to collect an outstanding debt. In his final years, Mongo Blanco will have the opportunity to redeem himself or finally fall victim to his own excesses.

Carlos Bardem’s latest novel is the thrilling epic of a real historical character, the powerful and legendary Mongo Blanco. Spain, Cuba and Africa provide the settings for this engrossing story, carefully documented and written with great attention to detail and astonishing emotion that will leave lovers of historical fiction, adventure novels and literature in general gasping for breath.

Jonathan Littell meets Quentin Tarantino.