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The 2013 Winners are In!



Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

Central America & Caribbean

• Mexico
• Central America
• Caribbean

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  Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A departure from her characteristic magic realism, Allende’s broad-canvassed novel tells the story of young slave-girl Tété and her tireless attempts to escape her cruel master. Set on the Caribbean island of Saint-Domingue and in the Vieux Carré of New Orleans, between 1770 and 1810, Island Beneath the Sea revels in vibrant period detail – the dress, the food, the smell of the plantations.

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  Caribbean Folk Tales & Fantasies by Michael Anthony

  Price: £6.99    Add to Basket

  A lovely little illustrated volume that gives a real flavour of the region and which can be enjoyed by readers of all ages - perfect for a family trip.

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  Singing From the Well by Reinaldo Arenas

  Price: £11.99    Add to Basket

  Arenas's debut is by turns crude and lyrical, but never less than engaging. Its young narrator, stranded amidst a chaotic family, finds solace in his fantasies and visions. An explosive tale exploring the dark side of Cuban domestic life, this launched Arenas to great fame in the early 1980s and remains spectacularly fresh.

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  A Sweet Scent of Death by Guillermo Arriaga

  Price: £6.99    Add to Basket

  A passionate, violent story of death and revenge set in rural Mexico and written by the screenwriter of Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Visually superb and tragic.

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  The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela

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  Although flawed in terms of plot and development, Azuela perfectly captures the Mexican temperament in his depiction of his hero Macias, a peasant turned revolutionary reader. It is also an engaging and informative account of the events of the Mexican revolution.

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  Overthrown by Strangers by Ronan Bennett

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  Three fugitives on the run across Mexico and Guatemala, escaping the sinister grasp of the New Era Mission, must form an allegiance in order to save themselves. A gripping, well-written thriller that is a clear-sighted exploration of human nature.

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  Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolano

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  A collection of mysterious, melancholic stories from this wonderful Chilean author about fascism, literature and exile.

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  2666 by Roberto Bolano

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  The last work from this Chilean genius is a dark, sprawling trilogy set in Mexico which narrates the story of a mysterious German author, his work and the brutal murders of over 400 women. A labyrinthine, violent and astonishing work.

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  The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

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  A riotous, sexy and often hilarious novel about visceral realist poets in Mexico City in the 1970s. The first part of the novel is the diary of 17 year-old Juan Garcia Madero and how he meets the leaders of a poetic movement, Ulises Lima and Arturo Belano, the second part consists of interviews with a series of people who met Belano and Lima on their journey across Mexico, Europe and Africa. A breath of fresh air to South American literature and highly recommended.

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  Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carre

  Price: £18.99    Add to Basket

  Back on form, le Carre's latest offering is an enjoyable thriller packed full of Russian criminals and corrupt English politicians.

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  The Tailor of Panama by John Le Carre

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  A clever satire about human frailty, this is the story of Andy Osnard, a disgraced spy, exiled to Panama and determined to uncover governmental corruption in order to return to London in a blaze of glory. His paid informant is the charismatic and mysterious tailor Harry Pendal.

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  Christ Versus Arizona by Camilo Jose Cela

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  Nobel Prize-winning author Camilo Jose Cela, presents Wendell L. Espana, an unreliable narrator who gives us a part-history, part-fictional stream of consciousness set against a backdrop of the Arizona of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.

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  Solibo Magnificent by Patrick Chamoiseau

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  Solibo Magnificent is a legendary orator. When he dies in full storytelling flow during carnival, his avid listeners are soon accused of murder. Chamoiseau's beguiling novel is brimming with wit and charm, but also carries a note of warning regarding the death of local traditions.

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  A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

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  Miss Marple is basking in the West Indian sunshine having a much-needed rest. Her creeping boredom is soon alleviated by the story of a murderer, and it is not long before she is back where she belongs: immersed in a classic mystery.

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  Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat

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  An incandescent collection of stories from contemporary Haiti's greatest literary talent. Steeped in the dialects, folktales and myths of her native country, Danticat's luminous tales are sparse, yet contain multitudes.

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  Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  Danticat's quietly brilliant first novel earned her instant acclaim. An autobiographical tale of a blissful Haitian childhood interrupted by the upheaval of a move to New York, this is a little-known gem that deserves your immediate attention.

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  Drown by Junot Diaz

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  Dominican-American superstar Diaz made his name with this exhilirating collection of stories, many of which take place in the barrios of Santa Domingo. Unashamedly colloquial in style, these brief but resonant tales capture the highs and lows of poverty and migration with great skill.

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  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

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  Inventive, hilarious and utterly unique, this novel deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize. Oscar is a ghetto-nerd doomed to never get the girl, but his friend (and our narrator) has other plans. Their quest leads them back to the Dominican Republic where they must contend with the turbulent past of Trujillo's dictatorship and a curse called fuku.

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  The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse by Brown & McWatt, Eds.

  Price: £14.99    Add to Basket

  A marvellous collection of verse from a broad range of Caribbean poets including Derek Walcott, Olive Senior and Aime Cesaire. Rich and varied, there is something for everyone here.

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  The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories by Brown & Wickham, Eds.

  Price: £15.99    Add to Basket

  Infante, Rhys, Marquez and Naipaul all feature in this brilliant anthology, along with lesser known writers who are by no means outshone. Fantastic.

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  Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

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  A magical, romantic story of love and Mexican cooking, which tells the story of Tita, prevented from marrying Pedro, the man she loves, because Mexican tradition dictates that she must stay at home and look after her mother. In desperation, Pedro marries her older sister. A whimsical, heartbreaking novel charged with erotic suspense.

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  The Violins of Saint-Jacques by Patrick Leigh Fermor

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  An elderly French woman recounts tales of her childhood on the Caribbean island of Saint-Jacques in the early 20th century. Vivid, thoughtful and melancholic.

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  Homo Faber by Max Frisch

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  The comic and disturbing story of Walter Faber, whose careful, rational life begins to unravel after his plane makes a crash-landing in the Mexican desert.

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  The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes

  Price: £11.99    Add to Basket

  From his deathbed, corrupt soldier and politician Artemio Cruz remembers his life from the Mexican revolution to the present day. Inspiring both hate and empathy, Cruz is a complex narrator whose story is both his own and that of his beloved country.

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  The Years with Laura Diaz by Carlos Fuentes

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Laura Diaz's life spans the turbulent tide of the 20th century, from her birth in 1898 on a coffee plantation, through the violent and political upheaval of the revolution and the years that follow. Carlos Fuentes, a master of Mexican fiction, weaves a century of history into a deeply emotional story.