Eucalyptus

An Amazon.ca Best Book of 2013: Top 100/Editors' Pick "Captivating ...a story of blood, hatred, vengeance, and politics."--Radio-Canada Alberto Ventura has travelled to Chile to attend the funeral of his father, Roberto. A man hated and loved both by his family and the local people, Roberto was known in the village as an enigma, a rake, a controversial boss, and a quick-tempered thug. It's said that he has destroyed the family land by mass-farming eucalyptus trees, and he's known to have killed a local boy in a fit of rage. Yet as Alberto delves into the rumours that obscure his father's death--was it natural causes, vengeance, murder, or self-sacrifice?--he finds the reputation at stake is his own. In a breath-catching story of race and identity, rife with Chile's centuries-old tension between natives and local landowners, Mauricio Segura's Eucalyptus investigates the flashpoint of one village community in an expanding world. "Well-executed, with a cinematic quality and keen visual sense ...Segura locates the political through the personal in a way that is uncommon."--Stephen Sparks, Green Apple Books "A solid novelist of infallible instincts."--L'Actualite