A gripping novel about the assassination of Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940 In The Man Who Loved Dogs, Leonardo Padura brings a noir sensibility to one of the most fascinating and complex political narratives of the past hundred years: the assassination of Leon Trotsky by Ramón Mercader. The story revolves around Iván Cárdenas Maturell, who in his youth was the great hope of modern Cuban literature—until he dared to write a story that was deemed counterrevolutionary. When we meet him years later in Havana, Iván is a loser: a humbled and defeated man with a quiet, unremarkable life who earns his modest living as a proofreader at a veterinary magazine. One afternoon, he meets a mysterious foreigner in the company of two Russian wolfhounds. This is "the man who loved dogs," and as the pair grow closer, Iván begins to understand that his new friend is hiding a terrible secret. Moving seamlessly between Iván's life in Cuba, Ramón's early years in Spain and France, and Trotsky's long years of exile, The Man Who Loved Dogs is Padura's most ambitious and brilliantly executed novel yet. This is a story about political ideals tested and characters broken, a multilayered epic that effortlessly weaves together three different plot threads—Trotsky in exile, Ramón in pursuit, Iván in frustrated stasis—to bring emotional truth to historical fact. A novel whose reach is matched only by its astonishing successes on the page, The Man Who Loved Dogs lays bare the human cost of abstract ideals and the insidious, corrosive effects of life under a repressive political regime.
Author
Leonardo Padura Fuentes (born 1955) is a Cuban novelist and journalist. As of 2007, he is one of Cuba's best known writers internationally. In English and some other languages, he is often referred to by the shorter form of his name, Leonardo Padura. He has written movie scripts, two books of short stories and a series of detective novels translated into 10 languages. In 2012, Fuentes was awarded the National Prize for Literature, Cuba's national literary award and the most important award of its kind. Leonardo Padura nasceu em Havana, em 1955. Licenciado em Filologia, trabalhou como guionista, jornalista e crítico, tornando-se sobretudo conhecido pela série de romances policiais protagonizados pelo detetive Mario Conde, traduzidos para inúmeras línguas e vencedores de prestigiosos prémios literários, como o Prémio Café Gijón 1995, o Prémio Hammett em 1997, 1998 e 2005, o Prémio do Livro Insular 2000, em França, ou o Brigada 21 para o melhor romance do ano, além de vários prémios da crítica em Cuba e do Prémio Nacional de Romance em 1993. Sua tetralogia Las cuatro estaciones, com histórias do detetive Mario Conde, começou a ser publicada em inglês. Os livros são: Pasado perfecto ("Havana Blue", 2007), 1991 Vientos de cuaresma ("Havana Yellow", 2008)), 1994 Mascaras ("Havana Red", 2005), 1997 Paisaje de otoño ("Havana Black", 2006), 1998. Padura publicou também dois livros subseqüentes apresentando o detetive Conde: Adios Hemingway e La neblina del ayer Neste momento, Padura está a finalizar um romance em que os protagonistas são o revolucionário russo León Trotsky e o seu assassino, Ramón Mercader. Livros de Padura editados em português (Portugal, Edições ASA) Adeus, Hemingway Morte em Havana (Máscaras) A neblina do passado Paisagem de Outono O Romance da Minha Vida Um Passado Perfeito Ventos de Quaresma http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo...
