{"product_id":"smoke-paperback-17","title":"Smoke - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eGabriela Alemán\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eDick Cluster\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat happens to a country and its people after 35 years of terror? The author of \u003cem\u003ePoso Wells\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eFamily Album\u003c\/em\u003e explores the aftermath of a dictatorship in this gothic family saga.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Gabriela Alemán has written a terrible and beautiful story about the delicate borders between what is known and what is invented, and about the places where intimate tragedy and the tragedies of history intersect. Her characters may appear to traverse a kind of voyage back to the origin, but in fact they are seeking their own path to survive in monstrous times.\"--\u003cstrong\u003eYuri Herrera, author of \u003cem\u003eSigns Preceding the End of the World\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter 19 years, a woman named Gabriela returns to the Paraguayan capital of Asunción to visit what's left of a family and a home that once provided her with refuge. Andrei, the family patriarch, now deceased, has left her his journal. Gabriela sequesters herself in the library to slowly read through it. The unanswered, and sometimes forbidden questions haunting that home filled with memories are made palpable: What secrets must be kept in order to survive? And for how long?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlemán situates the present in an eerie, dreamlike atmosphere saturated by a sense of foreboding. In alternating chapters, the past is revealed as an impossible puzzle, riddled with ellipses and gaps. As characters from the past begin to show up in the present, the novel comes to a close as Gabriela learns the family's hidden story, set against the backdrop of the country's troubled history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGabriela Alemán\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of ten books, including the novels \u003cem\u003ePoso Wells\u003c\/em\u003e (City Lights, 2018) and the short story collection \u003cem\u003eFamily Album\u003c\/em\u003e (City Lights, 2022)\u003cem\u003e. \u003c\/em\u003eAn author of critical essays on literature and film, she is a founding member of the publishing house El Fakir Editores, based in Ecuador. At Tulane University, she developed the Latin American Writers Series, a digital archive of contemporary Latin American Literature. She currently lives in Quito, Ecuador.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDick Cluster\u003c\/strong\u003e has been translating Spanish prose and poetry for twenty-five years, including five previous books for City Lights. He is both editor and translator of the anthology \u003cem\u003eKill the Ámpaya: The Best Latin American Baseball Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e. His original writing includes a detective novel series and several nonfiction books, most recently \u003cem\u003eThe History of Havana\u003c\/em\u003e, a social history of the Cuban capital. He lives in Oakland, California.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 176\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 7.9 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 14, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47267247980793,"sku":"9780872869172","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/oHF4GRCq5x9780872869172.webp?v=1768862535","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/smoke-paperback-17","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}