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The dinner guest  Cover Image Book Book

The dinner guest / Gabriela Ybarra ; translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer.

Ybarra, Gabriela, 1983- (author.). Wimmer, Natasha, (translator.).

Summary:

In 1977, three terrorists broke into Gabriela Ybarra's grandfather's home, and pointed a gun at him in the shower. This was the last time his family saw him alive, and his kidnapping played out in the press, culminating in his murder. Ybarra first heard the story when she was eight, but it was only after her mother's death, years later, that she felt the need to go deeper and discover more about her family's past. The Dinner Guest is a novel, with the feel of documentary non-fiction. It connects two life-changing events - the very public death of Ybarra's grandfather, and the more private pain as her mother dies from cancer and Gabriela cares for her. Devastating yet luminous, the book is an investigation, marking the arrival of a talented new voice in international fiction.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781910701980 (paperback)
  • Physical Description: 140 pages ; 22 cm
  • Publisher: London : Harvill Secker, 2018.

Content descriptions

General Note:
"First published with the title El comensal in Spain by Caballo de Troya, Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial in 2015"--Title page verso.
Language Note:
Translated from the Spanish.
Subject: Ybarra, Gabriela, 1983- > Fiction.
Ybarra, Gabriela, 1983- > Family > Fiction.
Death > Fiction.
Spain > Social conditions > 20th century > Fiction.
Genre: Autobiographical fiction.

Available copies

  • 1 of 1 copy available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
  • 0 of 0 copies available at Smithers Public Library.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
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Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Holdable? Status Due Date

  • Gardners
    LONGLISTED FOR THE 2018 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZEThe Dinner Guest is Gabriela Ybarra's prizewinning literary debut: a singular autobiographical novel piecing together the kidnap and murder of her grandfather by terrorists, reflecting on the personal impact of private pain and public tragedy.
  • Random House, Inc.
    LONGLISTED FOR THE 2018 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE

    The Dinner Guest is Gabriela Ybarra’s prizewinning literary debut: a singular autobiographical novel piecing together the kidnap and murder of her grandfather by terrorists, reflecting on the personal impact of private pain and public tragedy.

    The story goes that in my family there’s an extra dinner guest at every meal. He’s invisible, but always there. He has a plate, glass, knife and fork. Every so often he appears, casts his shadow over the table, and erases one of those present.


    The first to vanish was my grandfather.


    In 1977, three terrorists broke into Gabriela Ybarra’s grandfather’s home, and pointed a gun at him in the shower.

    This was the last time his family saw him alive, and his kidnapping played out in the press, culminating in his murder.

    Ybarra first heard the story when she was eight, but it was only after her mother’s death, years later, that she felt the need to go deeper and discover more about her family’s past.

    The Dinner Guest is a novel, with the feel of documentary non-fiction. It connects two life-changing events – the very public death of Ybarra’s grandfather, and the more private pain as her mother dies from cancer and Gabriela cares for her. Devastating yet luminous, the book is an investigation, marking the arrival of a talented new voice in international fiction.

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