Books with author Lisa St. Aubin De Teran

Lisa St Aubin de Terán's Swallowing Stones is a fictionalized account of the extraordinary life of one Oswaldo Barreto Miliani, code-named Otto - adviser to Castro, confidant of Salvador Allende, and sharp thorn in the sides of both the CIA and the KGB. In the riveting and remarkable invented memoirs of the legendary seventy-year-old revolutionary scholar, the explosive history of twentieth-century Latin America unfolds before us - viewed through the sharp, unflinching eyes of a uniquely indomitable character as he progresses, through consequence and fateful accident, from philosophy student to guerrilla fighter, political activist, and outlaw.

I was born in 1934 in a little lost village near San Cristobel de Torondoy eleven months after my brother. Unlike him, who was astonishingly handsome, I was astonishingly ugly. I was covered in black hair from head to foot like some kind of monkey. For some reason my ear-drums burst within days of my birth. The local doctor told my mother ''This little boy is not going to live, and if he does, he's going to be daft or half-witted''. But against all the hopes of the family, it was my brother who died, and I survived.'This extraordinary novel is based on a true story of a revolutionary who was advisor to Castro, friend of President Salvador Allende, and married to a woman who became one of the leaders of the Kurdish rebellion in Iran. There is a poignancy in his life, forever underlined by the leading roles thrown on him - like hoopla rings at a fair. Code-named Otto, he became an enemy of both the KGB and the CIA and all by chance, by a twist of fate, or by someone else's design. From the mountains of Venezuela, to the streets of Paris, from the heart of Cuba to rain-drenched London, this is a fabulous and picaresque journey of the lives and loves (plenty of those) of an astonishing man.

Lisa St Aubin de Terán's Swallowing Stones is a fictionalized account of the extraordinary life of one Oswaldo Barreto Miliani, code-named Otto -- adviser to Castro, confidant of Salvador Allende, and sharp thorn in the sides of both the CIA and the KGB. In the riveting and remarkable invented memoirs of the legendary seventy-year-old revolutionary scholar, the explosive history of twentieth-century Latin America unfolds before us -- viewed through the sharp, unflinching eyes of a uniquely indomitable character as he progresses, through consequence and fateful accident, from philosophy student to guerrilla fighter, political activist, and outlaw.

A septuagenarian former confidant to such figures as Fidel Castro and Salvador Allende looks back on his life of guerrilla fighting, political activism, and working against the KGB and CIA, a personal analysis during which he also evaluates his role in the making of countless urban legends, in a masterful novel based on the life of Venezuelan revolutionary Oswaldo Barreto Miliani. Reader's Guide available. Original. 15,000 first printing.