Miguel Bonnefoy

An enchanting family saga in the vein of One Hundred Years of Solitude, this prize-winning novel illuminates Venezuela's history through the lives of its memorable characters. When a mute beggar from Maracaibo, Venezuela, takes in a newborn abandoned on the steps of a church, she has no idea of the extraordinary destiny that awaits the orphan. Raised in poverty, Antonio will be a cigarette seller, a porter on the docks, a servant in a brothel before becoming, thanks to his effusive energy, one of the most illustrious surgeons in his country. An exceptional partner will inspire him. Ana Maria will distinguish herself as the first female doctor in the region. They will give birth to a daughter whom they will name after their own country: Venezuela. Connected to South America by her first name as much as by her origins, she only has eyes for Paris. But we never truly leave our own people. It is in the notebook of Crist bal, the last link of their family, that the stories of this astonishing lineage will finally take shape. In this vibrant saga full of unforgettable characters, Miguel Bonnefoy paints a picture, inspired by his own ancestors, of a remarkable family whose fate is intertwined with that of Venezuela.

En overraskende familiekrønike fyldt med poesi og passion, der på smuk vis fletter de individuelle familiemedlemmers skæbner sammen med Historiens skelsættende begivenheder i Sydamerika og Europa. Krøniken tager sin begyndelse i 1873, da en fransk familie udvandrer fra Jura for at prøve lykken i Den nye verden. Vinlusen Phylloxera har lagt vinproduktionen ned og ruineret de franske vinbønder. Cirklen sluttes 100 år senere i 1973, da efterkommere vender tilbage til Frankrig som flygtninge fra militærstyret i Chile.Skrevet mellem drøm og virkelighed tegner Miguel Bonnefoy et portræt af en fascinerende men rodløs familie, der mod alle ods udviser en stor medmenneskelighed og humanisme. Romanen har vundet flere priser. Særligt De franske boghandleres pris i 2021.Miguel Bonnefoy er født i Paris (1986). Vokset op i Venezuela og Portugal og har fået sin uddannelse i det franske skolesystem. Romanen har vundet flere priser. Særligt de franske boghandleres pris i 2021.

A dazzling family saga, brimming with poetry and passion, that skillfully weaves together the private lives of individuals and major historical events in South America and Europe. The house on Calle Santo Domingo in Santiago de Chile, with its lush lemon trees, has sheltered three generations of the Lonsonier family. Having arrived from the harsh hills of France's Jura region with a single grape vine in one pocket and a handful of change in the other, the patriarch put down roots there in the late nineteenth century. His son, Lazare, back from World War I's hellish trenches, would live there with his wife and build in their garden the most beautiful aviary in the Andes. That's where their daughter Margot, a pioneering aviator, would first dream of flying, and where she would raise her son, the revolutionary Ilario Da. Like Lazare before them, they will bravely face the conflicts of their day, fighting against dictatorship on both sides of the Atlantic. In this captivating saga, Miguel Bonnefoy paints the portrait of an endearing, uprooted family whose terrible dilemmas, caused by the blows of history, reveal their deep humanity.

A winegrower ruined by the Great French Vine Blight takes his one surviving vine stock and boards a ship for California. But the new life he has in store is not the one he had imagined - taken ill aboard ship, he is forced to disembark at Valparaiso, where a misunderstanding at the customs post finds him rebaptized after his birthplace, Lons-le-Saunier: the Lonsonier family is born in Chile. Making the journey in reverse, his sons return to defend the motherland in 1914, and the ghosts of the war live on across the Atlantic, in a house with three lemon trees and a garden filled with birds, for years to come. From the depths of the trenches to the soaring peaks of the Andes and the shadow of dictatorship, the personal stories of the Lonsoniers collide with key moments in a century of global history, painting a vivid picture of what is both gained and lost through migration. This pocket-sized family saga confirms the rich imagination and storytelling talents of exciting young author Miguel Bonnefoy.

A prize-winning author's magical realist fable about greed and corruption in Venezuela, Black Sugar gives a fascinating view of the country's social and economic development throughout the twentieth century through the story of a family of sugarcane growers. It tells of buried treasure and the legendary privateer Henry Morgan.