On Earth as It Is Beneath
Translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan.
- £11.99
- Pre-order
- Paperback scheduled for publication on 12/08/2025
- Page count: 112 pages
- ISBN: 1917260105
Synopsis
In a remote corner of Brazil, life in a forgotten prison takes on a sadistic, deadly turn. On land where slaves were once tortured and murdered, the state built a penal colony in the wilderness, where inmates could be rehabilitated, but never escape. Now, decades later, and having only succeeded in trapping men, not changing them for the better, its operations are winding down. But in the prison's waning days, the warden has unleashed a new horror: every full-moon night, the inmates are released, the guards are armed with rifles, and the hunt begins. Every man plans his escape, not knowing if his end will come at the hands of a familiar face, or from the unknown dangers beyond prison walls. Ana Paula Maia has once again delivered a bracing vision of our potential for violence, and our collective failure to account for the consequences of our social and political action, or inaction. No crime is committed out of view for this novelist, and her raw, brutal power enlists us all as witness.
About the author
Ana Paula Maia (Nova Iguaçu, Brazil, 1977) is an author and scriptwriter who has published several novels, including O habitante das falhas subterráneas (2003), and the 'Saga of Brutes' trilogy which comprises Entre rinhas de cachorros e porcos abatidos (2009), O trabalho sujo dos outros (2009) and Carvão animal (2011). De gados e homens (2013), translated for Charco Press as Of Cattle and Men by Zoë Perry (2023) won the UK Republic of Consciousness Prize 2023 as well as the inaugural Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation in the US. Maia also won the São Paulo Literature Prize for Best Novel of the Year two years in a row: in 2018 for the novel On Earth as it is Beneath, and in 2019 for Bury Your Dead , forthcoming from Charco Press in 2027.
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