Description

“Daniel Alarcon writes about subterfuge, lies, and the arbitrary recreation of history with a masterful clarity. By accepting the premise that war is senseless, he goes on to make sense of the lives that are destroyed in its wake. Lost City Radio is both ambitious and resonant.” — Ann Patchett, bestselling author of Bel Canto and The Dutch House

In his critically acclaimed debut novel, award winning author Daniel Alarcón vividly portrays an anonymous nation searching for its identity at the end of a war with no clear right or wrong.

For ten years, Norma has been the on-air voice of consolation and hope for the Indians in the mountains and the poor from the barrios—a people broken by war's violence. As the host of Lost City Radio, she reads the names of those who have disappeared—those whom the furiously expanding city has swallowed. Through her efforts lovers are reunited and the lost are found. But in the aftermath of the decade long bloody civil conflict, her own life is about to forever change—thanks to the arrival of a young boy from the jungle who provides a cryptic clue to the fate of Norma's vanished husband.

Stunning, timely, and absolutely mesmerizing, Lost City Radio probes the deepest questions of war and its meaning: from its devastating impact on society to the emotional scarring each survivor carries for years after. 

About the Author

Daniel Alarcon's debut story collection, War by Candlelight, was a finalist for the 2006 PEN/Hemingway Award. He has received a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and has been named by Granta magazine one of the Best American Novelists under thirty-five. He is the associate editor of Etiqueta Negra, an award-winning monthly magazine published in his native Lima, Peru. He lives in Oakland, California.

Praise For…

“Daniel Alarcon writes about subterfuge, lies, and the arbitrary recreation of history with a masterful clarity. By accepting the premise that war is senseless, he goes on to make sense of the lives that are destroyed in its wake. Lost City Radio is both ambitious and resonant.” — Ann Patchett, bestselling author of Bel Canto

“Lost City Radio is a gripping and tense political fable, sharply rooted in a world we have come to recognize. With echoes of Orwell and Huxley, and with images of astonishing originality, Daniel Alarcon creates a universe both menacing and tender, filled with characters imagined with skill and nuance. The scope of the narrative and the sense of urgency in the story make clear that he is one of the most exciting and ambitious writers to emerge in recent years.” — Colm Toibin, bestselling author of THE MASTER and two-time Booker Prize finalist

“Daniel Alarcon has written a book that fully captures the slow, quiet, terror of war . . . This is a first novel that needs to be read.” — Uzodinma Iweala, author of Beasts of No Nation

“[A] thoughtful, engaging first novel . . . a fable for an entire continent.” — Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World

"Alarcón’s novel eloquently fuses passion, violence, and societal trepidation at offending the ruling party.” — Entertainment Weekly

" In Lost City Radio, Alarcón. . . has created a chilling, intimate, powerfully atmospheric tale of the moral, psychological, and emotional casualties of war and its aftereffects. — Elle

“Alarcón has mapped a whole nation and given its war-torn history real depth—an impressive feat.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“We have a parable that is weirdly specific, both shadowly and tactile: Joan Didion in Graham Greeneland or J.M. Coetzee meets Amos Oz, as if politics devoured privacy on its way to abstractions as shiny as the guillotine.” — Harper's Magazine

“[An] ambitious first novel...Alarcon’s successfully and nimbly handled portrayal of war’s lingering consequences.” — Publishers Weekly

“The idea of remembering - and its dangers - permeates the book...powerful and ambitious.” — Daily News

“Alarcon writes about subterfuge, lies, and the arbitrary recreation of history with a masterful clarity.” — Ann Patchett, bestselling author of Bel Canto

“...one of the most exciting and ambitious writers to emerge in recent years.” — Colm Toibin, bestselling author of THE MASTER and two-time Booker Prize finalist

“Alarcon’s prose is quick and beautiful. This is a first novel that needs to be read.” — Uzodinma Iweala, author of BEASTS OF NO NATION

“[A] thoughtful, engaging first novel ...With the publication of Lost City Radio, Alarcón is off and running.” — Jonathan Yardley for the Washington Post Book World