Los Niños de Altamar / Children of the Open Sea

La poderosa primera novela de Virginia Tangvald: una epopeya inaudita e inspiradora que ha sacudido a los libreros, los lectores y la cr tica, en las listas de m s vendidos.

Ganadora del premio Prix r v lation d'automne SGDL

Virginia no conoci a su padre, Peter Tangvald, m s que por los libros que l public y los reportajes que protagoniz . El legendario aventurero noruego pas su vida surcando oc anos a bordo del velero que construy , desafiando los elementos y las convenciones. Casado siete veces, perdi a dos de sus esposas en misteriosas circunstancias, antes de naufragar con su hija Carmen, de ocho a os, en las Antillas en 1991. nico superviviente de la tragedia, su hijo Thomas adopt el mismo estilo de vida errante hasta desaparecer a su vez en el mar sin dejar rastro. La autora tambi n naci a bordo de aquel barco, sin recuerdos de ese padre, carism tico y peligroso, del que su madre Florence, la s ptima esposa, huy cuando Virginia era apenas un beb . Obsesionada por descubrir qui n era en verdad, inicia una investigaci n para tratar de reunir todas las piezas de una historia de libertad sin l mites. Sin embargo, a medida que se acumulan las revelaciones y las muertes, descubre que su padre no es ese h roe al que hab a idealizado.

En la l nea de sus predecesoras Delphine de Vigan o Vanessa Springora, "el primer libro de Virginia Tangvald es de los que te salpican la cara, te zarandean, te revuelven y te dejan boquiabierto -ha escrito Le Monde-. Est en la confluencia de tres g neros -el relato de naufragio, el cuento y la investigaci n familiar- que juntos le confieren una sorprendente fuerza. Los barcos sumergidos y sus escasos supervivientes han sido durante mucho tiempo una poderosa fuente narrativa para Boccaccio, Herman Melville, Daniel Defoe, Julio Verne y Alessandro Baricco".

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

The powerful first novel by Virginia Tangvald: an audacious and inspiring epic that rocked booksellers, readers and critics.

The bestselling winner of the Prix r v lation d'automne SGDL

Virginia knows her father, Peter Tangvald, only through books and interviews. The legendary Norwegian adventurer spent his life sailing the world's oceans on a sailboat he built himself, defying the elements and convention. Married seven times, two of his wives died in mysterious circumstances, and he himself drowned in a shipwreck in the Antilles in 1991 with his eight-year-old daughter, Carmen. The only survivor of the tragedy was his son, Thomas, who followed the same nomadic lifestyle before he too disappeared at sea without a trace. Born on the same ill-fated sailboat, the author has no memories of her dangerous and charismatic father: Her mother, Florence, the seventh wife, fled the marriage when Virginia was just a baby. Obsessed with learning who he really was, Virginia sets out on a mission to put together the pieces of his freewheeling life. As the revelations and death toll mount, however, she discovers that her father had little in common with the hero she idealized.

In the tradition of Delphine de Vigan and Vanessa Springora, "Virginia Tangvald's first book slaps you in the face, spins you around, shakes you to the core and leaves you agape," Le Monde writes. "It is the confluence of three genres - shipwreck tale, short story and family research project - that merge with surprising force. Sunken ships and their survivors have a long history of providing material for authors such as Boccaccio, Herman Melville, Daniel Defoe, Julio Verne and Alessandro Baricco."