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The Shape of the Ruins
Written by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
Translated by Anne McLean
- Original language:
- Spanish
- Shortlisted
- The Man Booker International Prize 2019
- Published by MacLehose Press
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An author is lured into a serpentine conspiracy theory in Juan Gabriel Vásquez’s gripping tale of intrigue and assassination in Colombia
In a blend of fiction, historical narrative and autobiography, Juan Gabriel Vásquez explores how dark moments from a country’s past resonate in the present. The author initially refuses to be drawn into a conspiracy theory about the 1948 murder of the popular politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. But when Gaitán’s vertebrae, stored in a glass jar in a friend’s house, go missing, Vásquez feels compelled to investigate. So begins a chain of events that uncovers a second, even darker conspiracy.
Juan Gabriel Vásquez
Juan Gabriel Vásquez was born in Bogotá, Colombia, in January 1973
More about Juan Gabriel Vásquez Anne McLean
Anne McLean was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in November 1962
More about Anne McLean