The shape of the ruins - Juan Gabriel Vsquez

"Like Don DeLillo's JFK-themed Libra, the novel is an intoxicating blend of fact and fiction" Glasgow Herald

"A masterful writer" Nicole Krauss

"A highly sophisticated, fast-moving political thriller set in Colombia and an excellent read" Alan Furst

"A dazzlingly choreographed network of echoes and mirrorings" T.L.S.

It takes the form of personal and formal investigations into two political assassinations - the murders of Rafael Uribe Uribe in 1914, the man who inspired Garca Mrquez's General Buendia in One Hundred Years of Solitude, and of the charismatic Jorge Elicer Gaitn, the man who might have been Colombia's J.F.K., gunned down on the brink of success in the presidential elections of 1948. Separated by more than 30 years, the two murders at first appear unconnected, but as the novel progresses Vsquez reveals how between them they contain the seeds of the violence that has bedevilled Colombia ever since.

The Shape of the Ruins is Vsquez's most ambitious, challenging and rewarding novel to date. His previous novel, The Sound of Things Falling, won Spain's Alfaguara Prize, Italy's Von Rezzori Prize and the 2014 Dublin IMPAC literary Award.

Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean