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Shooting Down Heaven

Shooting Down Heaven

Current price: $18.00
Publication Date: May 19th, 2020
Publisher:
Europa Editions
ISBN:
9781609455897
Pages:
352
Usually Ships in 1 to 5 Days

Description

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2020
Translated LitBig Other

Expertly told by one of Latin America's most exciting voices, Shooting Down Heaven follows the children raised by 1990s Colombia's most dangerous drug cartels and the consequences that shape their adulthood.

After twelve years away, Larry comes home to his native country of Colombia after his father, an old associate of Pablo Escobar, is murdered. Larry returns to collect his remains from a mass grave and give him a proper burial...but not before a reunion with his childhood friend, Pedro. Pedro picks him up at the airport to take him directly to the Alborada celebration--a popular festival where fireworks explode over Medell n, and the entire city loses its inhibitions. This is where Larry's story really begins.

His long-awaited homecoming quickly becomes a rude awakening. The years of luxury living in bodyguard-surrounded mansions are now firmly in the past, as Larry watches his family--including his ex-beauty queen mother and troubled brother--fall deeper into depression, drug addiction, and the traps of the family business.

Faced by an uncertain reality, Larry is forced to confront his family's turbulent history and reclaim himself from the dark remnants of a city still trying to rediscover itself. Unflinching and remarkably controlled, Jorge Franco creates a stunning portrait of a generation wounded by their parents' mistakes.

About the Author

Jorge Franco was born in Medellín, Colombia. He studied filmmaking and directing at the London Film School in the UK and Literature at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. His first short story collection Maldito Amor and first novel Mala Noche received prestigious national awards.Rosario Tijeras, published in 1999, has enjoyed spectacular commercial success in Colombia and marked the breakthrough of one of the most promising writers of new Latin American narrative. Paradise Travel (2002) solidly reaffirmed Jorge Franco's reputation with the tale of a young Colombian couple who attempt to escape the widespread violence of their country of origin by fleeing to New York as illegal immigrants. Both have been translated in English.Franco's novel El Mundo de Afuera won the Premio Alfaguara award in 2014. Shooting Down Heaven became a #1 bestselling title in its first week in bookstores. It was recently optioned for a TV adaptation.