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The Bullet Swallower
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Brief Description
A Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Goodreads, CrimeReads, The Millions, StyleCaster, The EveryGirl, Sunset, Book Riot, and HipLatina. January Recommended Reading by The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Book Riot, Nerd Daily, The Mary Sue, and Reading Between the Spines. "Mesmerizing...wildly entertaining...Gonzalez is a great storyteller,...
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The Bullet Swallower
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See moreA Western revenge story featuring the fearsome bandido Antonio Gonzalez, a character based on the author's own great-grandfather, whose vendetta against the Texas Rangers is watched intently by Death itself.
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Description
A Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Goodreads, CrimeReads, The Millions, StyleCaster, The EveryGirl, Sunset, Book Riot, and HipLatina.
January Recommended Reading by The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Book Riot, Nerd Daily, The Mary Sue, and Reading Between the Spines.
"Mesmerizing...wildly entertaining...Gonzalez is a great storyteller, bringing both Texas and Mexico to the page with a mix of blood and magic...A must-read." -The Boston Globe
In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He's good with his gun and is drawn to trouble, but he's also out of money and out of options. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children. When he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it—with his younger brother Hugo in tow. But when the heist goes awry and Hugo is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a quest for revenge that endangers not only his life and his family but his eternal soul.
In 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico's most renowned actor and singer. But his comfortable life is disrupted when he discovers a book that purports to tell the entire history of his family beginning with Cain and Abel. In its ancient pages, Jaime learns about the multitude of horrific crimes committed by his ancestors. When the same mysterious figure from Antonio's timeline shows up in Mexico City, Jaime realises that he may be the one who has to pay for his ancestors' crimes, unless he can discover the true story of his grandfather Antonio, the legendary bandido El Tragabalas, The Bullet Swallower.
A family saga that's epic in scope and magical in its blood, and based loosely on the author's own great-grandfather, The Bullet Swallower tackles border politics, intergenerational trauma, and the legacies of racism and colonialism in a lush setting and stunning prose that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors, and whether it is possible to be better than our forebears.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781399709071
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 23 January 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 24.0mm
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 232.0mm
Weight: 340g
Pages: 272
About the Author
Elizabeth grew up hearing the tale of her grandfather, Antonio Gonzalez, the real El Tragabalas. She has taken dramatic license with actual events in her novel, but there is a basis of fact to the story - for example, Gonzalez was indeed shot in the face by the Texas Rangers - that has also provided the basis for other dramatic interpretations over time. Elizabeth's cousin, the Mexican movie star, Lalo Gonzalez, made a comedy about El Tragabalas in 1966, and well-known Texas folklorist, Jovita Gonzalez, produced a short story in 1935 riffing on the same legend.
Now the interviews editor at The Rumpus, Elizabeth's stories and essays have appeared in The Idaho Review, The Rumpus, Ploughshares, PANK, and elsewhere, and have received numerous Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. Her first novel, Mona at Sea, was a finalist in the 2019 SFWP Literary Awards judged by Carmen Maria Machado, and was named a 'Most Anticipated' book by The Millions, The Rumpus, and other publications, with Elizabeth appearing on NPR's Weekend Edition.Also by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
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The Bullet Swallower
A dazzling magical realism western in the vein of Cormac McCarthy meets Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Bullet Swallower follows a Mexican bandido as he sets off for Texas to save his family, only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come, finally, to collect a cosmic debt generations in the making. In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a...PaperbackSold Out
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