'Simply magical' Elle

The story of Venezuela told through the adventures of kindly giant, Octavio. Struggling to conceal his illiteracy, he embarks on a transformative journey that unearths his life's purpose.

"His body might have been hewn from a tree trunk; his heart would last for a hundred years. And, like a tree, he was one of those men who die standing up."

A chance meeting in the local pharmacy transforms the life of lonely, illiterate Octavio. He begins reading lessons and finds love and happiness for the very first time. But Octavio's destiny lies elsewhere, as he will discover on a journey into the Venezuelan rainforest.

Shortlisted for the Goncourt first novel award, this short but epic fable is both a hymn to Venezuela and the magical story of an extraordinary hero.

Reviews

'Could almost be a chapter from One Hundred Years of Solitude' Sunday Times

'A masterfully composed poetic and picaresque fable' Le Figaro

'A quite irresistible picaresque novel, in the vein of García Márquez' Nouvel Observateur

'(a) whistle-stop tour of a remote, seldom-touched-by-literature, and fully intriguing, but ultimately unfathomable, land' The Book Bag

'This short novel is impossible to put down (...) felt immersed in this Latin American world just the way I was when I first read Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez' Paris Diary

'We see Bonnefoy in an ode to his homeland and a fable like tale of what was and maybe a feeling that is lost . This is under hundred pages long a perfect evening read.' Winstonsdad's Blog

'A wonderful debut' Libération

'Bewitching from the start' Le Point

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Shortlisted for the Goncourt first novel award, Octavio's Journey is an epic fable about an extraordinary hero.

'Simply magical' Elle

A compact but kaleidoscopic fable of Venezuela from a stunning new voice in the magical realism tradition.

His body might have been hewn from a tree trunk; his heart would last for a hundred years. And, like a tree, he was one of those men who die standing up.

A chance meeting in the local pharmacy transforms the life of lonely, illiterate Octavio. He begins reading lessons and finds love and happiness for the very first time. But Octavio's destiny lies elsewhere, as he will discover on a journey into the Venezuelan rainforest.