Black Sugar

By Miguel Bonnefoy

Miguel Bonnefoy’s colourful tale of a family’s changing fortunes is also the fascinating story of Venezuela’s development over the course of the 20th century.

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…

And so it was that the treasure lay buried amid scraps of sail and a pirate’s corpse, preserved within the belly of the Caribbean…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gallic Books
• Release date: Mar 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781910477533

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.

Book preview

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