The Distance Between Us

'This is an impressive book. In writing it the author demonstrates great talent, as well as great courage.' \*\*—Mario Vargas Llosa \*\*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 to 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... 'This is an impressive book. In writing it the author demonstrates great talent, as well as great courage.' —Mario Vargas Llosa 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 to 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. Selected for a slew of international prizes, it is now available in English for the first time. This is a son's search for his father. A familiar theme, but one that, across the generations, can occasionally unearth something rather powerful. In 'The Distance Between Us' that son is Renato Cisneros, a talented writer and a well-known journalist, and that father is the former Army General Luis Federico 'El Gaucho' Cisneros, one of the most important figures in the recent history of Peru. Renato Cisneros digs into his own family history to understand and demystify the figure of 'El Gaucho': the controversial Secretary during the regime of Francisco Morales Bermúdez and, shortly after, the country's Minister of War Winner of the Prix Transfuge du Meilleur Roman de Litt�rature Hispanophone PEN Translates Award winner (UK) Finalist of the Vargas Llosa Biannual Award Longlisted for the Prix M�dicis 2017 Media personality in Peru and Spain with 386k followers on Twitter 35k copies sold in Peru alone International critical acclaim Sprawling, baroque family saga that recalls One Hundred Years of Solitude and House of the Spirits in scope Cisneros's father was a major figure in the military dictatorship that ruled Peru in the 70s and 80s and has historical significance A son looks back on the family history that shaped him and led to his father's leading role in a brutal dictatorship.