Santiago Gamboa Book order

An addictive and nuanced narrative about conflict-rife Colombia

Longlisted for the 2018 Best Translated Book Award Gritty Central and South American lives from an underground Colombian literary voice. Santiago Gamboa is one of Colombia's most exciting young writers. In the manner of Roberto Bola o, Gamboa infuses his kaleidoscopic, cosmopolitan stories with a dose of inky dark noir that makes his novels intensely readable, his characters unforgettable, and his style influential. Manuela Beltr n, a woman haunted by a troubled childhood she tries to escape through books and poetry; Tertuliano, an Argentine preacher who claims to be the Pope's son, ready to resort to extreme methods to create a harmonious society; Ferdinand Palacios, a Colombian priest with a dark paramilitary past now confronted with his guilt; Rimbaud, the precocious, brilliant poet whose life was incessant exploration; and, Juana and the consul, central characters in Gamboa's Night Prayers, who are united in a relationship based equally on hurt and need. These characters animate Gamboa's richly imagined portrait of a hostile, turbulent world where liberation is found in perpetual movement and determined exploration.

A Colombian philosophy student is arrested in Bangkok, accused of drug trafficking. He risks the death penalty and longs for his distant sister Juana. During their childhood, Juana promised to do everything to protect him from the drug- and violence-infested streets of Bogota. But when things spun out of control she was forced to flee, leaving her brother behind. Their story reaches the ears of the Colombian consul general in New Delhi, who takes it upon himself to reunite the two siblings--a feat that may be beyond his power.

An author attends a conference featuring a series of extraordinary life stories, where the story of formerly troubled evangelical pastor Jos Maturana captures his imagination and causes him to seek answers when Maturana is later found dead.