Julianne Pachico – författare

The Lucky Ones is Julianne Pachico's haunting debut collection of stories. Set in lush, heady Colombia - and also in a jungle-like New York City - it brings together the fates of guerrilla soldiers, rich kids, rabbits, hostages, bourgeois expats, and drug dealers. Exploring what makes a victim and what makes a perpetrator, these stories show lives fatefully entwined, despite deep cultural divides.

Set mostly in lush, heady Colombia but even in a jungle-like New York City, they yoke together the fates of guerrilla soldiers, rich kids, rabbits, hostages, bourgeois expats, and drug dealers.Interconnected yet fractured in places, the result is a narrative jigsaw puzzle with some of the pieces missing, or a kaleidoscope where different characters spin into focus as they take turns to come into focus. Her characters' voices are completely haunting - and Pachico's playfulness with language and mastery of consciousness create a mesmerising collective atmosphere in this collection.At once terse and tender, with a manic, crazed energy, these stories will scalpel their way into your memory.

'A brilliant, feverishly imaginative novel.' Sharlene Teo'Seriously impressive.' Claire Adam'A vibrantly intelligent work.' Sergio de la Pava'Superb.' Kelly LinkLina returns to Colombia after twenty years away. Sent to England after her mother's death when she was eight, she's searching for the person who can tell her what's happened in the time that has passed. Matty - Lina's childhood confidant, her best friend - now runs a refuge called The Anthill for the street kids of Medellín. But her long-anticipated reunion with him is struck by tension. Memory is fallible, and Lina discovers that everyone has a version of the past that is very, very different.'International in scope, profoundly human in its concerns, it feels like just the kind of novel we need in unsettling times.'Laird Hunt

A dark and unsettling debut novel from one of the most innovative young fiction writers today - a searing and affecting depiction of what redemption can be for a person and for a country in the wake of conflict.'An engrossing tale of a young woman's return to her roots in the troubled streets of Medellin.' Sunday Times'A brilliant, feverishly imaginative novel.' Sharlene Teo

A young woman is brought up in the jungle by artificial intelligence - Never Let Me Go meets Lord of the Flies

A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE KITSCHIES RED TENTACLE AWARD 2023'Stylish, beautiful and strange' Jessie GreengrassAs featured on BBC Open Book: 'poses questions about whether we can love AI and whether AI could love us ... I couldn't help but develop a soft spot for Mother' -- Johny PittsLena has always lived in the jungle with Mother. There they look after a holiday home in surroundings that burst with colour and crawl with danger. Lena's only other friend is Isabella, who once visited regularly with her wealthy parents and security drone, Anton. But Isabella and her family haven't been seen in years.Mother is not like other mothers. She gets angry when Lena draws her with a face. When Lena challenges her to portray herself, she paints a tiny yellow dot surrounded by swirling black. She is a bastion of light, she says, against an army of darkness. Outside, rebels are fighting to take over the country. Mother is determined nothing will change inside the security fence, nothing to threaten her bond with Lena, or endanger the family. But there are secrets that need to emerge. How did Lena end up here? And what has happened to the family who no longer visit? What has Mother been planning, and what is gathering around them to change their lives forever?

A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE KITSCHIES RED TENTACLE AWARD 2023'Stylish, beautiful and strange' Jessie GreengrassAs featured on BBC Open Book: 'poses questions about whether we can love AI and whether AI could love us ... I couldn't help but develop a soft spot for Mother' -- Johny PittsLena has always lived in the jungle with Mother. There they look after a holiday home in surroundings that burst with colour and crawl with danger. Lena's only other friend is Isabella, who once visited regularly with her wealthy parents and security drone, Anton. But Isabella and her family haven't been seen in years.Mother is not like other mothers. She gets angry when Lena draws her with a face. When Lena challenges her to portray herself, she paints a tiny yellow dot surrounded by swirling black. She is a bastion of light, she says, against an army of darkness. Outside, rebels are fighting to take over the country. Mother is determined nothing will change inside the security fence, nothing to threaten her bond with Lena, or endanger the family. But there are secrets that need to emerge. How did Lena end up here? And what has happened to the family who no longer visit? What has Mother been planning, and what is gathering around them to change their lives forever?