Description
In Buenos Aires, in the mid-Seventies, a ten-year-old boy lives in world of school lessons and Superman comics, TV shows and games of Risk - a world in which men have superpowers and boys can conquer the globe on a square of cardboard. But in the outside world, a military junta have taken power; and amid a political climate of fear and intimidation, people are beginning to disappear without trace...
When his mother unexpectedly takes the boy and his kid brother out of classes, she tells them they're going on an impromptu family 'holiday'. But he soon realizes that the rules of the game are shifting. This will be no holiday: his parents are known supporters of the opposition, and they are going into hiding...
Holed up in a ramshackle safe-house in the remote hills outside the city, they assume new identities and make believe that life continues as normal. Naming himself Harry, after his hero Houdini, the boy spends his days of enforced exile learning the secrets of escape. And in a world of seeming chaos and uncertainty, he attempts to imagine he has control over himself and his surroundings.
A deeply moving and wise novel, written with immense heart, Kamchatka is an adventure story about a young boy forced to square fantasy against reality when reality and all its trappings - family, politics, history, and time itself - are more improbable than any fiction. Ultimately, it is a novel about the imaginative spaces we retreat to when we need to make sense of an unimaginable world.
In the forecourt of a petrol station outside of Buenos Aires, a father says goodbye to his son: 'Kamchatka,' he whispers softly into his ear. And then they part, forever. Kamchatka is a heartbreaking adventure story. Set in Argentina during the bloody coup d'etat of 1976, it tells an entirely enchanting story of a young boy trying to make sense of a world during a time of extraordinary upheaval.
About the Author
Marcelo Figueras, born in Buenos Aires in 1962, is a writer and a screenwriter.
Awards
Short-listed for INDEPENDENT FOREIGN FICTION PRIZE 2011 (UK).
Book Information
ISBN 9781843548263
Author Marcelo Figueras
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Atlantic Books
Publisher Atlantic Books
Weight(grams) 371g
Dimensions(mm) 192mm * 138mm * 30mm
