‘Little is left, men or animals. Hoes and sickles lie where they were dropped, in the corners of fields dried up for lack of rain. A narrow, stinking creek provides water, but it dwindles visibly day by day, sucked dry by the fierce heat evaporating it, making the air humid and heavy.’
On Earth As It Is Beneath
Written by Ana Paula Maia
Translated by Padma Viswanathan
- Original language:
- Portuguese
- Shortlisted
- The International Booker Prize 2026
- Published by Charco Press
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An unsettling novel that sets us among an isolated group of men whose bonds break down in ways both hard to comprehend and impossible to look away from
On land where enslaved people were once tortured and murdered, the state built a penal colony in the wilderness, where inmates could be rehabilitated, but never escape. Now, decades later, and having only succeeded in trapping men, not changing them for the better, its operations are winding down.
But in the prison’s waning days, a new horror is unleashed: every full-moon night, the inmates are released, the warden is armed with rifles, and the hunt begins. Every man plans his escape, not knowing if his end will come at the hands of a familiar face, or from the unknown dangers beyond the prison walls.
Ana Paula Maia delivers a bracing vision of our potential for violence, and our collective failure to account for the consequences of our social and political action, or inaction. No crime is committed out of view for this novelist, and her raw, brutal power enlists us all as witnesses.
On Earth As It Is Beneath was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.
Ana Paula Maia
Ana Paula Maia was born in Nova Iguaçu, Brazil, and is an author and scriptwriter
More about Ana Paula Maia 
Padma Viswanathan
Padma Viswanathan is a Canadian-American writer and translator
More about Padma Viswanathan Set in a remote penal colony, this vivid and haunting novel unfolds in a landscape where punishment has replaced justice. A stark, unsettling exploration of power and corruption
The International Booker Prize 2026 judges
‘Set in a remote penal colony built on land scarred by slavery and colonialism, this vivid and haunting novel unfolds in a landscape where punishment has replaced justice and cruelty has become the norm. As the colony nears its end, the warden introduces a ritualised full-moon hunt, releasing prisoners into the forest for sport. Through spare yet masterful prose, Ana Paula Maia renders a closed world thick with dread, brutality and moral decay. The prisoners and guards alike are trapped within a system that corrodes and suffocates everyone it touches. On Earth As It Is Beneath is a stark, unsettling exploration of power, violence, destruction and institutional corruption that will linger with readers long after the final page.’
What the critics said
Gabino Iglesias, New York Times
‘It is inventive and unflinching. And while the atmosphere is heavy with brutality and murder, Maia’s prose offers the perfect counterbalance – it is beautiful and gripping.’
Leo Boix, Morning Star
‘By the time the book reaches its chilling conclusion, Maia has delivered a masterclass in suspense and allegory, a hypnotic descent into the underworld of cruelty and survival.’
