Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Letters from Latin America: September 23, 2019
Fiction and poetry from Giusseppe Caputo, Juan Villoro, Carlos Andres Gomez and Mario Montalbetti
Exceptional debut: Giuseppe Caputo

THERE are books that stay with you long after you put them down and one of them is An Orphan World (Charco Press, £9.99), the debut novel from Colombian writer Giuseppe Caputo. Rich in images, registers and nuances, it's a book you can almost read as a long, lyrical poem.

In it, a father and his son attempt to survive poverty by moving into a poorer neighbourhood near the sea, possibly somewhere in Latin America.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
futures
Book Review / 12 August 2025
12 August 2025

CARL DEATH introduces a new book which explores how African science fiction is addressing climate change

brokens
Exhibition Review / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

MIKE QUILLE applauds an excellent example of cultural democracy: making artworks which are a relevant, integral part of working-class lives

gray
Exhibition review / 8 July 2025
8 July 2025

BLANE SAVAGE recommends the display of nine previously unseen works by the Glaswegian artist, novelist and playwright

COMPASSION: Author Banu Mushtaq, right, and translator Deepa Bhasthi with the International Booker Prize statuettes last Tuesday
Books / 27 May 2025
27 May 2025

Heart Lamp by the Indian writer Banu Mushtaq and winner of the 2025 International Booker prize is a powerful collection of stories inspired by the real suffering of women, writes HELEN VASSALLO