Description

* Winner of the Premio Casa de las Americas *

‘A novel crafted like a Coen Brothers’ movie’ Le Monde

‘A strange and hypnotic novel’ France Info

‘Mysterious and enchanting’ Transfuge

A road-trip novel that takes us on a journey of love and escape through the vast and magical landscape of Patagonia, where nothing and no-one are what they seem.

Parker is an enigmatic lorry driver who spends his days travelling up and down the infinite roads of a mythical Patagonia: an empty yet wildly beautiful landscape where people are brought together and separated by the shifting, omnipresent wind. Patagonia is a land populated by legends, adventures, and exotic characters, including a journalist on the hunt for Nazi submarines, cannibalistic Trinitarians who have given up eating meat, and a pair of evangelical Bolivian twins who dutifully guard a ghost train.

Happiest behind the wheel, or playing his saxophone, Parker crosses these strange plains to escape a mysterious past he left behind long ago. Parker finally finds a sense of direction when he meets Mayten, a strong and beautiful woman who works at a travelling fair. Soon, they are separated, but how will he find her in a land where directions change like the wind?

Eduardo Varela creates and reinvents, out of an inhospitable territory where nothing grows, an oceanic and extraordinary landscape. Patagonia Route 203 is an ode to liberty, to movement and to the beauty of creation.

‘To say this adventure novel completely captivates you from beginning to end is not enough’ Le Figaro Litteraire

‘An absolute wonder’ Femme actuelle

‘Passionate . . . compelling . . . you must go on this wonderful route 203’ L’Obs

Publisher Review

A novel crafted like a Coen Brothers’ movie. A unique world is created that is as wild as it is devilishly human * Le Monde * A strange and hypnotic novel, filled with melancholic humour, inviting us to go on the road. Eduardo Varela drives us far away to listen to the poetry of the world * France Info * To say that this adventure novel completely captivates you from beginning to end is not enough … the author handles perfectly the art of suspense and storytelling * Le Figaro Litteraire * Patagonia Route 203 is a woken dream. A beautiful hymn to Patagonia, mysterious and enchanting * Transfuge * Eduardo Fernando Varela’s debut novel is a witty exploration of the immutable mythology of Latin America’s vast landscapes * Livres Hebdo * A debut novel that lifts us up in the air and that oscillates between a road-movie and an dreamlike tale * France Info Culture * An absolute wonder. An irresistible novel * Femme actuelle * Passionate … compelling … you must go on this wonderful route 203 * L’Obs *