The Lacuna

The Lacuna

The first novel in 9 years from the much-acclaimed bestselling author of The Poisonwood Bible, one man's journey from the warm heart of Frida Kahlo's Mexico to the cold embrace of Joseph McCarthy's America, a novel as deep and rich as the New World itself.

Lacuna: a cave, a missing text, a gap. An indication of the many different meanings this word has, all of which are woven throughout this novel…

Born in the US, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico, Harrison Shepherd is mostly a liability to his social-climbing mother, Salome. From a coastal island jungle to the unpaved neighbourhoods of 1930s Mexico City, his fortunes never steady as Salome finds her rich men-friends always on the losing side of the Mexican Revolution.

Shepherd aims for invisibility, observing his world and recording everything with a peculiar selfless irony in his notebooks. Life is whatever he learns from servants putting him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Making himself useful in the household of the muralist, his wife, Frida Kahlo, and exiled Bolshevik leader Lev Trotsky, young Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot in with art and revolution.

A violent unheaval sends him north to a nation newly caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. In Carolina, he remakes himself in America's hopeful image. Under the watch of his peerless stenographer, Violet Brown, he finds an extraordinary use for his talents of observation. But political winds continue to push him between north and south, in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach- the lacuna- between truth and public presumption.

The Lacuna is a gripping story of identity, connection with our past, and the power of words to create or devastate. Crossing two decades, from the vibrant revolutionary murals of Mexico City to the halls of a Congress bent on eradicating the colour red, The Lacuna is a deep and rich as the New World itself.

Early Praise for The Lacuna:
'Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favourite writers. The Lacuna is a fascinating, compelling book which opens up an extraordinary world for the reader.' Kate Atkison.
'She masterfully resurrects a dark period in American history with the assured hand of a true literary artist.' Publishers Weekly.
'The Lacuna is without doubt the most extraordinary novel I have read for years and will sweep readers off their feet.' Hannah Griffiths, editor and Director at Faber and Faber.

Barbara Kingsolver was born in 1955 and grew up in eastern Kentucky. Her books include poetry, non-fiction and award-winning fiction, and in 1999 she was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for The Poisonwood Bible (recently voted Britain's favourite reading group book). She lives with her husband and daughter in southern Arizona and in the mountains of southern Appalachia.

The Lacuna
Allen and Unwin
Author: Barbara Kingsolver
ISBN: 9780571252640
Price: $35.00