Quina llet!, the first volume of a two-book series by Sant Cugat del Vallès resident Josep Lluís Castelló Vila, follows the Castellví and Villet family sagas through places including Lleida, Agramunt, les Borges Blanques, Mollerussa, Manresa and Barcelona.
For readers with ties to these towns, the novel places family life alongside the historical tensions that shaped modern Catalonia, from the arrival of railways and water infrastructure in Mollerussa to social and political conflict in Barcelona. Its setting includes Passeig de Sant Joan, where the fictional Delfí Villet suffers an attack at the family farm in April 1921.
Family stories set against social conflict
The book moves between mid-19th-century Mollerussa and early-20th-century Barcelona, while also linking the characters to Castellolí and Sant Salvador de Guardiola. Its protagonists gradually converge on a shared destiny across generations.
According to the book description, the narrative combines history, literature and memory, bringing historical figures into contact with the routines of ordinary people. The characters encounter currents including liberalism, Carlism, Catalanism, republicanism and anarchism, as strikes, political violence, repression and unrest intensify.
These themes give the novel a local frame for understanding how disputes over work, power and political identity entered homes, farms and city streets in the period portrayed.
Author’s first volume in a planned two-book series
Castelló Vila was born in Barcelona in 1950 and lives in Sant Cugat del Vallès. He studied business sciences and completed a business management master’s degree at ESADE before working in his family business.
At the age of 50, he changed direction, completing a master’s degree in international humanitarian aid at the universities of Deusto and Uppsala. He later volunteered with Intermón-Oxfam for seven years, working on projects in Tanzania, Mozambique and Ethiopia, and subsequently helped establish a non-governmental organisation focused on northern Peru.
Quina llet! is presented as his first work combining historical outreach and literature. The series is completed by Per un plat de nata.
Primary sources: barcelona.cat. Reported by Source Text Link, Roberta Bosco, Redaccio, Publicado por Joan Vendrell i Campmany, Gemma Busquets Ros, broadwayworld.com, El País, valledeelda.com, elespanol.com, Joan López, Àlex Romaguera, Francesc Bruguera, av.startpage.com, tunnelbuilder.com, lavanguardia.com, xn--elespaoldigital-3qb.com, Casellas I Domènech, Oriol, beteve.cat, Racó Català.
