Aphasia

Antonio's sister is on the run. After threatening to shoot her neighbours and claiming that Antonio, Obama and the Pentagon are conspiring against her, she's disappeared. Antonio, however, is doing his best to think of anything but his sister or, for that matter, any of his problems, for fear of destabilising the precarious middle-class existence he's built in America with his family. Turning his back on his present-day woes, Antonio submerges himself in the past, transcribing recordings of his mother speaking about her troubled life in Colombia; his ex-wife speaking about her life in the Czech Republic; writing furiously about the past relationships that still haunt him... This boldly original, luminous novel sparkles with life as it captures the irresistible pull of the past, and the immensity of the present moment. It cements Cardenas' place as one of today's most innovative, daring literary voices.