The Distance Between Us
Renato Cisneros
'If I succeed in understanding who he was before I was born, perhaps I will be able to understand who I am now that he is dead…'
In this sprawling family saga stretching across Latin America, a son embarks on a journey to understand his complex relationship with his father and how it shaped the man he is today. Recalling Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Isabel Allende’s House of the Spirits, the renowned journalist and writer Renato Cisneros probes deep into his own family history to try and come to terms with his father, General Luis Federico ‘The Gaucho’ Cisneros, a leading, controversial figure in the oppressive military regime that held power in Peru during the 1970s and 1980s, a tortuous period marked by state-sanctioned terrorism and the rise of the Shining Path.
Selling over 35,000 copies in Peru alone, The Distance Between Us is at once excruciating in its honesty and deeply moving in its universal relevance. Winner of the Prix Transfuge du Meilleur Roman de Littérature Hispanique 2017, finalist for the Vargas Llosa Biannual Award and longlisted for the Prix Médicis Étranger 2017, it is now available in English for the first time.
‘An extraordinary family story... Renato Cisneros delivers here the captivating narrative of a strange and disturbing filiation. A loving and lucid puzzle.’ Le Monde
Renato Cisneros (Lima, 1976) is a well-known journalist, broadcaster and writer from Peru now living in Madrid. Having published a number of books of poetry and two novels, in 2015 he stepped back from his media career to fully concentrate on his writing. The Distance Between Us (Charco Press, 2018) sold over 35,000 copies in Peru alone and has been lauded in the Peruvian and international press. It was shortlisted for the Mario Vargas Llosa Biannual Award, longlisted for the Prix Médicis (2017) and was the winner of the Prix Transfuge du Meilleur Roman Hispanique (2017). Its prequel, You Shall Leave Your Land (Charco, 2023) was also a bestseller in Spain and Latin America. The World We Saw Burning, runner-up for the prestigious Alfaguara Prize (2023) is his most recent novel.