The Secret History of Costaguana

A brilliant historical and postmodern novel from the author of the book «The Sound of Things Falling». Many years ago, Colombian native José Altamirano told writer Joseph Conrad the story of his life, which, under the pen of the writer, turned into fiction, the novel «Nostromo». Torn by political strife, Colombia became the semi-mythical Costaguana in it. But now, the Colombian is eager to record his burning confession and restore the true course of events – the storms of revolutions, the search for his father, the epic of the construction of the Panama Canal, the circumstances of unexpected love, and the flight to Europe… Juan Gabriel Vásquez, with an inventiveness worthy of an heir to Márquez, Borges, and Cortázar, plays with the reader, offering to see behind the classic text another text, infused with the blood of reality, but in fact also uncompromisingly mixing the fates of empires, the testimonies of participants in historical events, and the magnificent fruits of literary imagination.