Palacio Quemado/ Burned Palace (Alfaguara)

Oscar was a child when his brother committed suicide in the Presidential Palace. Thirty years later, he returns as the official writer of Presidential speeches, in a time of social upheaval, trying to find a reason for his brother’s suicide and the words to appease the people. Edmundo Paz Soldán’s fast-paced narrative introduces us to the end of an era in the history of Bolivia, bringing to life the perverse connection between power and violence, the role (or lack of it) of the word in the transformation of a nation, and the redemption that occurs with the acceptance of responsibilities.