Stranger to the Moon is a brave, powerful, and distinctive novel by a writer who arguably holds the strongest claim to the title of Colombia's greatest living author.

Insects and reptiles are trained as agents and spies against the naked ones, and only the most fortunate humans manage to reach old age by taking up strategic spots near the kitchens and grabbing for the fiercely contested food. Each subsequent section of the book adds further layers to the ritualistic and bizarre social order inhabited by its characters. A parable of pointed social criticism, with naked humans imprisoned in a house in order to serve the needs of 'the vicious clothed ones,' the novel describes what ensues when a single 'naked one' privately rebels, risking his own death and that of his fellow prisoners. His magnificent novel Stranger to the Moon portrays a world that seems to exist outside time and place but taps into the dark myths and collective subconscious of his country, with its harrowing inequality and violence. A fantastical novel about power and subservience by the great Evelio Rosero, winner of Colombia’s National Literature Prize The renowned Colombian writer Evelio Rosero has never been one to shy away from the darker aspects of his nation’s history and society.

The renowned Colombian writer Evelio Rosero has never been one to shy away from the darker aspects of his nation's history and society. Abad’s novel occasionally drags, but it’s a brilliant lesson in Colombian history, as it fluctuates between past, “nonexistent future, which is over for us or ending,” and “the present, the here and now, in these few moments of life left to us.” (Apr.A fantastical novel about power and subservience by the great Evelio Rosero, winner of Colombia's National Literature Prize During their time on the farm, the siblings tidy up and discuss their heritage through the farm and their own personal experiences, while the threat of violence lurks in the background. Toño and Pilar’s sister, Eva, is traumatized by a past episode in which the farm was nearly burned to the ground by a criminal organization called El Músico.

He is met by his older sister, Pilar, a corpse dresser possessing an almost supernatural relationship with the dead who have drowned in the farm’s river, whose son Lucas was once kidnapped and held by guerillas for a year. Toño, a gay violinist and amateur poet and historian, is summoned back to Colombia from New York and becomes obsessed with exploring the history of his family.

After the death of their mother, three siblings are reunited at La Oculta in order to determine its fate while reckoning with the personal differences that threaten to tear them apart. A history of Colombia in miniature, Abad’s arresting novel (after the memoir Oblivion) tells the story of La Oculta, a farm hidden in the mountains outside Medellín that has weathered guerilla and paramilitary violence but whose future is anything but secure.

Stranger to the Moon by Evelio Rosero