Oblivion is a heartrending, exquisitely written account of an extraordinary father: Hector Abad Gomez, whose criticism of the Colombian regime led to his murder by paramilitaries in 1987. Twenty years in the writing, it paints an vivid, unforgettable picture of a man who followed his conscience and paid for it with his life, during one of the darkest periods in Latin America's recent history. AUTHOR: Hector Abad Faciolince is one of Colombia's leading writers. Born in 1958, he grew up in Medellin, where he studied medicine, philosophy and journalism. After being expelled from university for writing a defamatory text against the Pope, he moved to Italy, before returning to his homeland in 1987. After his father's murder in that year, he was forced into exile, living and teaching in Italy until 1992, when he again returned to Colombia. He is the author of several acclaimed novels. SELLING POINTS: Critically acclaimed in hardback The author's profile is growing: he will be at the Hay Festival this year Translator Anne McLean is two-time winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction prize REVIEWS: ?Oblivion is a shattering chronicle of Colombia's violence, but it is also an inspiring tribute to tolerance and paternal love' ? Guardian ?Partly a portrait of a singular father and partly a wider landscape of a beautiful country, full of potential, tearing itself to pieces?The writing is warm, generous and witty as the man it portrays' - Observer ?A beautiful and profoundly moving work?an irreplaceable testimony of the struggle for democracy and tolerance in Latin America' ? El Pais
