Tomás González

A searing and timeless evocation of the nature of humanity, The acclaimed aviator and adventurer wrote Letter to a Hostage while waiting in neutral Portugal for a passage to the United States, having just escaped from the terrors of war-torn France. Saint-Exupéry's observations on the aimless existence of his fellow exiles in a Lisbon filled with parties, gambling and spies leads him to examine the nature of existence itself. The particularity of this moment, as the world seemed to be coming to an end, makes for a searing and timeless evocation of the nature of humanity. A book I always keep in my pocket ... As perfectly formed as 'Heart of Darkness'. -- Paul Blezard-Gymer, BBC Radio 4's A Good Read

In the Beginning was the Sea

Tomás Gonzáles

Death in paradise: sea, sex and a sinister downward spiral on a Caribbean islandThe young intellectuals J. and Elena abandon the parties, the drinking and the money of the city, and start a new life on a remote tropical coast. Among mango trees, hot sands and everlasting sunshine, they plan to live the Good Life, self-sufficient and close to nature.But with each day come small defeats and imperceptible dramas. Gradually paradise turns into hell, as brutal weather, mounting debts, the couple's brittle relationship, and the sea itself threaten to destroy them.Based on a true story, In the Beginning Was the Sea is a dramatic and searingly ironic account of the disastrous encounter of the imagined life with reality - a satire of hippyism, ecological fantasies, and of the very idea that man can control fate.Tomás Gonzáles was born in 1950 in Medellín, Colombia. He studied Philosophy before becoming a barman in a Bogotá nightclub, whose owner published In the Beginning Was the Sea, his first novel, in 1983. González has lived in Miami and New York, where he wrote much of his work while making a living as a translator. After twenty years in the US, he returned to Colombia, where he now lives. His books have been translated into six languages. In the Beginning Was the Sea is González's first book to be published in English.

In the Beginning Was the Sea

Gary Homewood

Young dislikeable bohemian couple attempt to live the rural idyll by the sea. Short, pithy, well paced and structured, with a matter-of-fact lyricism and an effective sense of foreboding.

In the Beginning was the Sea

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