In the Beginning Was the Sea
Will be published approx. on 13. August 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-1-80533-203-9 (ISBN)
Description
When J. and Elena swap the parties and culture of the city for a simpler life on Colombia's remote Caribbean coast, they expect to find an Eden to call their own. But in amongst the mango groves they discover decaying houses, diseased animals, suffocating heat and locals from another world. Faced with growing debt, how will they survive in this new environment when they themselves remain unchanged? And, as their relationship breaks down - and the horror unfolds - who can they count on if not each other?
Based on a true story, In the Beginning Was the Sea is a menacing, ironic tale of human weakness, the terrifying power of nature, and what happens when our dreams meet their fateful reality.
Based on a true story, In the Beginning Was the Sea is a menacing, ironic tale of human weakness, the terrifying power of nature, and what happens when our dreams meet their fateful reality.
Reviews / Votes
Taut, uncompromising study of the faultlines in all of us -- JG Vasquez, author of the award-winning 'The Sound of Things Falling' * Guardian * A writerly coup de grace: short and swift, with sharp imagery, menace and sensuality nestling together in its luxuriant Caribbean setting * Financial Times * Smoothly intriguing narrative, with its touches of sinister, Patricia Highsmith-like menace * Irish Times * The lauded Colombian novelist lives up to the hype...extraordinarily evocative * Independent * Extremely potent: sly, voyeuristic, ominously poetic... a clever riff on the Rousseaus (both Henri and Jean-Jacques), a cautionary tale about choosing to defy the laws of nature and man, and ultimately discovering that idealism can't replace them -- Jessica Loudis * TLS * Haunting * Metro * A novel that lingers * Telegraph * Superb -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times (Books of the Year) * Terse but poetic... J's escape is by turns beautiful, hubristic and tragic. Gonzalez writes gloriously about nature for good measure * Independent (Books of the Year) * [T]he novel leaves its mark... the arresting prose and complex characters shine. * Kirkus Reviews * Quietly unsettling, elegantly written * Sunday Express * A brief, pungent, powerful and unusual tale * Monocle * Tomas Gonzalez has the potential to become a classic of Latin American literature... a very pure writer * Elfriede Jelinek, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature * Skilfully planted with narrative bombs... you can hear it ticking * Intelligent Life * Through the sparse language and the handpicked metaphors, the exotic island that J. and Elena inhabit and the realities of mainland South America come to life... lean and severe but still ultimately artistic * Bookbag * A fascinatingly dark character study. It is an unflinching, and pitch perfect trip into the dark heart of Colombia and hippy culture in general. It is above all a powerful debut * Upcoming4Me * Gonzalez's sharp and succinct delivery, combined with his crisp and startling imagery, leaves an impression upon a reader that takes time to fade * Litro * If Garcia Marquez is Wagner, Tomas Gonzalez is Bob Dylan * Arcadia magazine, Colombia * A fascinating sociological experiment...Tomas Gonzalez writes with descriptive beauty and subtle irony * The Literateur * Tomas Gonzalez is among the brilliant Colombian writers emerging from the shadow of Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- Maya Jaggi * Pen Atlas * Colombian novelist Gonzalez tells a common story with uncommon economy * Booklist * Gonzalez's work has been translated into six languages, but this is his first book to appear in English, an auspicious beginning * Booklist * For readers following J's fantasies and hopes [...], it is impossible not to think of Kafka's K * Booklist * Devastatingly evocative... a chilling, brilliantly plotted tale * Typographical Era * A truly captivating trouble-in-paradise novel... If this is a measure of what [Gonzalez] is capable of, with luck there will be many more * Star Tribune * The finca's surroundings, richly and sensuously rendered by Gonzalez and Spanish-language translator Frank Wynne, burst with images of fecundity... For the English-speaking world, this novel is merely a taste of what is to come * Chicago Tribune * Gonzalez poetically and comically captures the inevitable destruction of those who live in a world of fantasy and hubris, depicting beauty and despair by turns * Publishers Weekly * Touching... Gonzalez has established himself as one of Colombia's leading writers * RTE * Gonzalez's story of failed bohemian idealism has new power in its conscious merging of fiction and confessional... After the studious buildup of suspense and endangerment [...], Gonzalez captures the ultimate smallness of the murder, the bathos of a handgun being fired, the stillness that immediately follows * Los Angeles Review of Books * The lyrical, haunting story has the feel of a fable - a young man and his beautiful wide abandon their hectic, intellectual, night-clubbing life in the city to buy a farm on an undeveloped stretch of coast - while the spare, disquieting prose suggests the start of an art-house horror film. * Words Without Borders *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pushkin Press
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Weight
367 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80533-203-9 (9781805332039)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Tomas Gonzalez was born in 1950 in Medellin, Colombia. He studied Philosophy before becoming a barman in a Bogota nightclub, whose owner published In the Beginning Was the Sea, his first novel, in 1983. Gonzalez has lived in Miami and New York, where he wrote much of his work while making a living as a translator. After twenty years in the US, he returned to Colombia, where he now lives. His books have been translated into six languages. His novels Fog at Noon, Difficult Light and The Storm have also been published in English.
Frank Wynne is an Irish literary translator, writer and editor. He has translated numerous French and Hispanic authors including Michel Houellebecq, Patrick Modiano, Javier Cercas and Virginie Despentes. Over a career spanning more than twenty-five years, his translations have won many awards, including the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the Scott Moncrieff Prize and the Premio Valle Inclan twice. Most recently, his translation of The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers Guild by Mathias Enard won the 2024 French-American Prize.
Frank Wynne is an Irish literary translator, writer and editor. He has translated numerous French and Hispanic authors including Michel Houellebecq, Patrick Modiano, Javier Cercas and Virginie Despentes. Over a career spanning more than twenty-five years, his translations have won many awards, including the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the Scott Moncrieff Prize and the Premio Valle Inclan twice. Most recently, his translation of The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers Guild by Mathias Enard won the 2024 French-American Prize.