The Dream of the Jaguar - by Miguel Bonnefoy (Paperback)

About the Book

"First published in French in 2024 as Le rãeve du jaguar by âEditions Payot & Rivages, Paris."--Title page verso.

Book Synopsis

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 Cristóbal, 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.

Review Quotes

"A layered and vibrantly imagined history of Venezuela...an enchanting novel filled with colorful and unforgettable characters...Bonnefoy's prose, expertly translated from the French by Ruth Diver, is radiant and dreamlike with touches of magical realism, evoking Gabriel García Márquez as an influence but maintaining its own originality. Though Bonnefoy's sweep of history is wide, even the minor characters populating his version of Maracaibo shine like stars." --Shelf Awareness (starred review)

"Filled with earthy and luminous prose that evokes the writers of the Latin American Boom...Readers will be enchanted." --Publishers Weekly

"[A] vibrant historical saga from an award-winning author, for fans of Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende." --The Bookseller

"Bonnefoy's novel traces the lineage of a remarkable family whose past is intrinsically linked to Venezuela...a tale both enduring and personal." --Book Riot

"From the time oil is discovered in Venezuela to the present, this tale from the Venezuelan diaspora invokes the spirit...of Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude." --Booklist

Praise for Heritage

"Bonnefoy packs an entire century into Heritage, despite its slender size...this tale of a French immigrant and his Franco-Chilean descendants casts a sometimes playful, sometimes tragic spell that will be familiar to devotees of Gabriel García Márquez." --New York Times Book Review

"Rich, evocative, charming, and quite simply stunning. In these poetically written pages following a single family, Miguel Bonnefoy's Heritage manages to speak volumes about history, courage, and home." --Meg Waite Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Train to London

About the Author

Miguel Bonnefoy was born in France in 1986 to a Venezuelan mother and a Chilean father. His earlier novels, Octavio's Journey and Black Sugar, have sold more than thirty thousand copies each in France and have been translated into several languages. In 2013 Bonnefoy was awarded the Prix du Jeune Écrivain. His novel Heritage (Other Press, 2022) received widespread critical acclaim in France, including being short-listed for the Prix Femina, the Grand Prix de l'Académie française, and the Goncourt Prize.

Ruth Diver holds a PhD in French and comparative literature from the University of Paris 8 and the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She won two 2018 French Voices Awards for her translations of Marx and the Doll by Maryam Madjidi, and Titus Did Not Love Berenice by Nathalie Azoulai. She also won Asymptote's 2016 Close Approximations fiction prize for her translation of extracts of Maraudes by Sophie Pujas.