Already an international bestseller, Laura Restrepo's transcendent new novel is now available in the United States. 
One of the most provocative writers to emerge from the rich Latin American literary scene, Laura Restrepo is an author whose sensuous mix of realism and imaginative storytelling has made her an international bestseller. Her newest work, The Dark Bride, is a slyly humorous yet poignant love story. It was sparked by a photograph (shown on the jacket) taken by the late Colombian master, Leo Matix, of a sensual woman shrouded in mystery. Restrepo discovered the photo unexpectedly during her investigation into the rapacious workings of an American-controlled Columbian oil company and was immediately compelled to imagine the subject's life through a novel. 
Using a series of subtly textured interviews, Restrepo's journalist protagonist mines a rich trove of characters -- fortune hunters, guerrilla chiefs, refinery workers, and prostitutes -- who, together with the narrator, attempt to decipher the impulsive and mysterious life of the young Sayonara, the unlikely heroine of The Dark Bride. Drawn like an exotic moth to work beneath on of the colored lights of La Catunga, the local house of prostitution, Sayonara is enigmatic and arrogant beyond her years. Her Indian origins a puzzle, she is transformed by her sage madam, the surprisingly maternal Todos los Santos, into the queen of her squalid Colombian barrio. Each month, Sayonara charms the oil workers of the Tropical Oil Company, who have journeyed down from the mountains searching for some earthly bliss. But it is not just oil workers who are captivated by Sayonara. She is also the flame that draws an unpredictable mix of haunting characters into the tragicomic obsession that is her life -- from Sacramento, the childhood playmate who is determined to rescue Sayonara from her unorthodox life, to the stranger Payanés, who is her one true love and carries secrets of his own. Sayonara is the Dark Bride who subtly reveals a personal and political universe forever marked by her passing. 
Perceptive, richly detailed, yet effortlessly told, The Dark Bride is luminous and unforgettable.

The Dark Bride: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

RESTREPO,LAURA

Contemporary

Ecco

Once a month, the refinery workers of the Tropical Oil Company descend upon Tora, a city in the Colombian forest. They journey down from the mountains searching for earthly bliss and hoping to encounter Sayonara, the legendary Indian prostitute who rules their squalid paradise like a queen. Beautiful, exotic, and mysterious, Sayonara, the undisputed barrio angel, captivates whoever crosses her path. Then, one day, she violates the unwritten rules of her profession and falls in love with a man she can never have. Sayonara's unrequited passion has tragic consequences not only for her, but for all those whose lives ultimately depend on the Tropical Oil Company. A slyly humorous yet poignant love story, The Dark Bride lovingly recreates the lusty, heartrending world of Colombian prostitutes and the men of the oil fields who are entranced by them. Full of wit and intelligence, tragedy and compassion, The Dark Bride is luminous and unforgettable.

United States

Isle of Passion: A Novel

Base on true events, this brilliantly rendered novel recounts a dramatic tale of survival, and a woman’s determination to triumph over a harrowing fate.In 1908, Mexican captain Ramón Arnaud and his young bride, Alicia, set sail for Clipperton, a tiny Pacific atoll once dubbed "Isle of Passion" by Spanish explorers. Accompanied by eleven soldiers and their families, the captain is under orders to defend the isolated but strategically well situated island against an improbable French invasion. With its treacherous coral reef and stagnant lagoon, Clipperton is a dire, forbidding place for the new inhabitants. Rigid military order soon gives way to more informal island living, but under Ramón's guidance and inspired by Alicia's determination the group manages to create a viable community. There are a food store, pharmacy, lighthouse, even dinner parties. But then, amid political upheaval at home and the first rumblings of World War I, the Clipperton residents are forgotten. The supply ship slated to come every two months comes every third, then sixth, then not at all. Left to the mercies of nature and each other, they fall victim one by one to scurvy, hunger, despair, rivalry, lust and, ultimately, violence.
Alicia, steadfast and resourceful, becomes a beacon of strength for the remaining castaways, whose collective survival will depend upon her courage and cunning. Drawing on historical records, archives and interviews, prize-winning novelist Laura Restrepo has reimagined the incredible true story of love and war, hardship and endurance, adventure and hope on the Isle of Passion. In prose that is lush, evocative and utterly beguiling, she brings to life a bizarre, moving episode in Mexican history and its extraordinary, unforgettable heroine.

In 1908, under orders to defend a tiny, isolated Pacific atoll from an improbable French invasion, Mexican captain Ramón Arnaud, his young bride, Alicia, and eleven soldiers and their families set sail for the so-called Isle of Passion. In this dire, forbidding place, a viable community is created under Ramón's guidance and inspired by Alicia's dedication. But they are soon forgotten by a motherland distracted by political upheaval and the first rumblings of World War I. Left to the mercies of nature and one another—falling victim one by one to disease, hunger, lust, despair, and, ultimately, violence—the castaways who remain must find strength in the courage and steadfast resourcefulness of Alicia Arnaud, upon whom their collective survival now depends.
Based on true events, Laura Restrepo's Isle of Passion is a brilliantly rendered and dramatic tale of savage human nature—and one woman's determination to triumph over a harrowing fate.

Harper-perennial

Laura Restrepo, una de las autoras más importantes de la literatura latinoamericana, ha sabido construir una sensual mezcla de realismo y de imaginación narrativa que ha convertido sus libros en bestsellers internacionales. Su último libro, La Novia Oscura, es una divertida y conmovedora historia de amor. 
A travé de una serie de entrevistas, la reportera que protagoniza esta novela, da vida a un singular grupo de personajes: cazadores de fortuna, jefes guerrilleros, obreros de refinería, y prostitutas. Junto con el narrador, la reportera intenta descifrar la misteriosa e impulsiva vida de Sayonara, el personaje principal de La Novia Oscura. Tal una exótica mariposa, enigmática y arrogante, Sayonara trabaja bajo las luces de La Catunga, el burdel del pueblo. Cada mes, Sayonara embruja a los trabajadores de la Tropical Oil Company que bajan de las montañas en busca de un poco de dicha terrenal. Pero estos no son los únicos en sucumbir a los encantos de Sayonara....Su belleza atrae como una llama a una singular mezcla de personajes que van desde Sacramento, su amigo de infancia, decidido a rescatarla del pecado, hasta el misterioso Payanés, su verdadero amor....Sayonara es la novia oscura, y su historia revela un universo personal y político que quedará para siempre marcado por su paso.

La Novia Oscura

Literary

Rayo

"How can I tell him that he will never find her, after he has been searching for her all his life? If I could talk to him without breaking his heart, there is something I would tell him, in hopes it would stop his sleepless nights and wrongheaded search for a shadow. I would repeat this to him: 'Your Matilde Lina is in limbo, the dwelling place of those who are neither dead nor alive.' But that would be like severing the roots of the tree that supports him. Besides, why do it if he is not going to believe me."
In the midst of war, the protagonists of A Tale of the Dispossessed are continuously searching: for a promised land, a destiny, the face of a woman who has disappeared -- searching for an impossible love and, conversely, for a love that is possible.
A way station for refugees from violence is the setting for an intense love triangle in which an uprooted and wandering people lead the reader to experience the collective drama of forced relocation. A Tale of the Dispossessed speaks to us about the inexorable law that has led man, expelled from paradise since the days of Adam through to modern times, in his search for a way back home.

A Tale of the Dispossessed/La Multitud Errante: A Novel (English and Spanish Edition)

En 1908, el capitán mexicano Ramón Arnaud y su esposa adolescente parten hacia un pequeño atolón en el Pacífico, conocido por los exploradores españoles como la Isla de la Pasión. Acompañado de once soldados y sus familias, el capitán tiene órdenes de defender la isla ante la improbable invasión francesa. Con su peligroso arrecife de coral y una laguna estancada, la isla es amenazadora e inhóspita y sus nuevos habitantes deben luchar para sobrevivir. Logran crear una comunidad viable, pero entre la agitación política en su país y los comienzos de la primera Guerra Mundial, se ven olvidados en medio del Pacífico.
Abandonados a la intemperie, uno a uno van cayendo víctimas del escorbuto, el hambre, la desesperación, la rivalidad, la lujuria y la irremediable violencia. Alicia, una mujer resuelta e ingeniosa termina convirtiéndose en el punto de apoyo para los demás, cuya supervivencia dependerá en su valentía y astucia.

La Isla de la Pasion: Una Novela (Spanish Edition)

La reportera de una revista de frivolidades es enviada por su jefe a cubrir la aparición de un ángel en una de las barriadas más pobres de la ciudad. Emprende la tarea a regañadientes porque la tienen sin cuidado los asuntos religiosos y la aburre sobremanera un tema tan manido, y ni siquiera sospecha hasta qué punto se va a ver involucrada en una brutal cadena de acontecimientos que escaparán a su control y a su racionalidad. ¿Quién es y de dónde viene el supuesto ángel, ese muchacho perplejo y de asombrosa belleza a quien la fe de los habitantes del barrio mantiene encerrado entre una cueva? ¿Qué lo une a esa reportera que de él se enamora, a la madre que lo busca en agonía, al sacerdote que intenta destruirlo, a la médica que pretende hospitalizarlo, a las mujeres que lo bañan, lo alimentan y lo convierten en supremo objeto de veneración? Sin caer en el socorrido ""realismo mágico"", Restrepo explora los abismos de la religiosidad popular y acompaña los pasos de una mujer que se atreve a adentrarse en el luminoso y a la vez pavoroso territorio de lo sagrado. Dulce Compañía recibió los premios Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz y el Prix France Culture, otorgado por la crítica literaria francesa.

Dulce Compania: Novela

El asesinato irreflexivo de Adriano Monsalve por parte de su primo hermano Nando Barragán, desencadena una guerra fratricida destinada a durar hasta el fin de los tiempos y marcada por la inexorable ley del desierto: la sangre se paga con sangre. Barraganes y Monsalves alimentarán su sed de venganza con negocios ilegales, convirtiendo al dinero fácil en rey de una nueva sociedad que habrá perdido irremediablemente el camino. Basada en una temible saga de la vida real, esta novela es brutal y cruda en su lenguaje, pero la dulcifica la conmovedora historia de amor que transcurre entre sus páginas y la humaniza el protagonismo de las mujeres en su afán por preservar la vida de sus hijos. En ella, Restrepo explora dimensiones humanas ocultas del alma de la mafia colombiana y logra por primera vez una radiografía de la intensidad y complejidad de sus relaciones amorosas y familiares, de su concepción del honor y la muerte, de su código ético y su fascinación con el dinero.

El Leopardo al Sol: Novela (Spanish Edition)

Con su característico talento, Laura Restrepo construye un brillante relato en el que se combinan sensualmente el realismo y la imaginación, la radiografía social y el romance A través de una serie de entrevistas, la reportera que narra este relato da vida a un singular grupo de personajes: cazadores de fortuna, jefes guerrilleros, obreros de refinería, y prostitutas. Así intenta descifrar la misteriosa e impulsiva vida de Sayonara, el personaje principal de La novia oscura. Tal una exótica mariposa, enigmática y arrogante, Sayonara trabaja bajo las luces de La Catunga, el burdel del pueblo. Cada mes, Sayonara embruja a los trabajadores de la Tropical Oil Company que bajan de las montañas en busca de un poco de dicha terrenal. Pero estos no son los únicos en sucumbir a los encantos de Sayonara… Su belleza atrae como una llama a una mezcla de personajes que van desde Sacramento, su amigo de la infancia, decidido a rescatarla del pecado, hasta el misterioso Payanés… Esta es la historia de Sayonara, la novia oscura, y revela un universo personal y político que quedará para siempre marcado por su paso.

La novia oscura: Novela (Esenciales) (Spanish Edition)

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Books by RESTREPO,LAURA

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by RESTREPO,LAURA. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Dark Bride: A Novel

The Dark Bride: A Novel

Isle of Passion: A Novel

Isle of Passion: A Novel

La Novia Oscura

A Tale of the Dispossessed/La Multitud Errante: A Novel (English and Spanish Edition)

La Isla de la Pasion: Una Novela (Spanish Edition)

Dulce Compania: Novela

El Leopardo al Sol: Novela (Spanish Edition)

La novia oscura: Novela (Esenciales) (Spanish Edition)