Black Sugar, Miguel Bonnefoy
'The advantage of being poor,' he smiled, 'is you can only get richer.'
The Book Office suggests a treasure hunt as book of the week... Translated by Emily Boyce and published by Gallic, Black Sugar is a true gold nugget!
On the edge of the Latin American rainforest, the Oteros family farm sugar cane in their remote corner of the earth. Cut off entirely from the modern world, life is peaceful, uneventful. Until, that is, a succession of ships arrive in search of Henry Morgan’s legendary lost treasure, said to be buried deep beneath the forest floor. Soon, the isolated villagers are exposed to all the trappings of modernity, while the travellers’ search for booty unearths more than anybody could have anticipated…
Dive into Miguel Bonnefoy's imaginary world, in which treasures surface between rum barrels, babies emerge from sugarcane plantations and characters are driven by their own terrible greed. Miguel Bonnefoy has been compared to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a simile which is completely justified by the powerful story that drives the lives of the Otero family members.
When asked why he wrote the book, the author answers:
I wrote it to pay homage to my country, Venezuela. I liked the idea of talking about pirates, gold hunters, strong women, shipwrecks, tropical fiestas and rum distilleries in a story where a family of rum makers live on the deep traditions of the sugar cane culture. I also wanted the book to be a metaphor of Venezuelan oil, and the characters to be the 20th century inhabitants who failed to realise that the true treasure lays in the fruits of harvesting sugar cane and not a few metres underground in a chest sealed with golden nails.
Read more from Miguel Bonnefoy about his book!
Miguel Bonnefoy Miguel Bonnefoy was born in France in 1986 to a Venezuelan mother and a Chilean father. In 2013, he was awarded the Prix du Jeune Ecrivain, which previously launched the careers of Marie Darrieussecq and others. Octavio’s Journey is Bonnefoy’s first novel, written in French. It has sold more than 25,000 copies in France and has been awarded the Prix Edmée de la Rochefoucauld (for debut novels – past winners include Goncourt winner Mathias Enard), the Prix Fénéon and the Prix de la Vocation, which rewards new talent (past winners include Amélie Nothomb and Joël Dicker). The book was also shortlisted for the Prix des Cinq Continents and the Goncourt First Novel Award.
©Frédéric Stucin
Emily Boyce studied French and Italian at the University of Oxford with a year abroad teaching English in Turin. After graduating she worked on the BBC’s food websites and translated French literature as a hobby. She was shortlisted for the French Book Office “New Talent in Translation Award” in 2008. In 2011 she became in-house translator at Gallic Books. Her translations and co-translations from French include works by Pascal Garnier, Antoine Laurain, Hélène Gestern and Éric Faye.
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