Description

Book Synopsis

Costa Rica, 1968. When a lethal fire erupts at the American Fruit Company’s most lucrative banana plantation burning all evidence of a massive cover-up, the future of Teresa Cepeda Valverde’s family is changed for ever.

Now, twenty-seven years later, Teresa and her daughter Lyra are still picking up the pieces. Lyra wants nothing to do with Teresa, but is desperate to find out what happened to her family that fateful night. Teresa, haunted by a missing husband and the bitter ghost of her mother, Amarga, is unable to reconcile the past. What unfolds is a story of a mother and daughter trying to forgive what they do not yet understand, and the mystery at the heart of one family’s rupture, steeped in machismo, jealousy and greed.

Brimming with ancestral spirits, omens and the forces of nature, John Manuel Arias’s extraordinary debut novel weaves a brilliant tapestry of love – lost and found again – and, ultimately, redemption.


Trade Review
An exciting new voice with a prowess for lyricism * Publishers Weekly *

Where There Was Fire

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    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Fri 31 Jul 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by John Manuel Arias

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      Publisher: Pan Macmillan
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 11/01/2024
      ISBN13: 9781035041404, 978-1035041404
      ISBN10: 1035041405

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Costa Rica, 1968. When a lethal fire erupts at the American Fruit Company’s most lucrative banana plantation burning all evidence of a massive cover-up, the future of Teresa Cepeda Valverde’s family is changed for ever.

      Now, twenty-seven years later, Teresa and her daughter Lyra are still picking up the pieces. Lyra wants nothing to do with Teresa, but is desperate to find out what happened to her family that fateful night. Teresa, haunted by a missing husband and the bitter ghost of her mother, Amarga, is unable to reconcile the past. What unfolds is a story of a mother and daughter trying to forgive what they do not yet understand, and the mystery at the heart of one family’s rupture, steeped in machismo, jealousy and greed.

      Brimming with ancestral spirits, omens and the forces of nature, John Manuel Arias’s extraordinary debut novel weaves a brilliant tapestry of love – lost and found again – and, ultimately, redemption.


      Trade Review
      An exciting new voice with a prowess for lyricism * Publishers Weekly *

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