"Since they shot her at point-blank range while she was being kissed, she confused the pain of love with that of death." Rosario Tijeras is the violent, violated character at the center of Jorge Franco's study of contrasts, set in self-destructing 1980s Medellín. Her very name-evoking the rosary, and scissors-bespeaks her conflict as a woman who becomes a contract killer to insulate herself from the random violence of the streets. Then she is shot, gravely wounded, and the circle of contradiction is closed. From the corridors of the hospital where Rosario is fighting for her life, Antonio, the narrator, waits to learn if she will recover. Through him, we reconstruct the friendship between the two, her love story with Emilio, and her life as a hitwoman. Rosario Tijeras has been recognized as an admirable continuation of a literary subject that was first treated by Gabriel García Márquez and then by Fernando Vallejo. A work in the Latin American social realist tradition, Rosario Tijeras is told in fast and vibrant prose and with poetic flourish.
Author
Jorge Franco, born in Colombia, studied Film Direction at the London Film School and Literature at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. MALDITO AMOR was his first book of short stories and MALA NOCHE his first novel, both of which received prestigious national awards. ROSARIO TIJERAS, published in 1999, has enjoyed spectacular commercial success in Colombia and marked the breakthrough of one of the most promising writers of new Latin American narrative. It is the story of the love triangle between outlaw Rosario and two young men from Colombian high society. Terrorism, violence and narco-trafficking provide a fascinating background to the fast-paced plot. It has recently been made into a major feature film, taking the Colombian box-office by storm with more than 1.000.000 movie-goers flocking to the big-screen within only two weeks of opening. PARAÍSO TRAVEL (2002) solidly reaffirmed Jorge Franco’s reputation with the tale of a young Colombian couple who attempt to escape the widespread violence of their country of origin by fleeing to New York as illegal immigrants. MELODRAMA (2006) is yet another contemporary story of “Colombians abroad” in Paris. He made an important comeback with the novel EL MUNDO DE AFUERA, winner the Premio Alfaguara 2014. His last book EL CIELO A TIROS, published in September 2018, became a #1 best selling title in it's first week in bookstores. Gabriel García Márquez has said about Jorge Franco: “This is one of the Colombian authors I would like to pass the torch to”. Web site www.jorge-franco.com
