Pig's Foot - Tapa dura

Oscar Kortico, great-grandchild of the founders of a small hamlet in the Cuban hinterland, is a sardonic teller of tales-some taller than others-of slavery, revolution, family secrets, love, and identity that span three generations.

One day, Oscar wakes to find that he is alone in the world. As the sole descendent of his family line, he is not sure what to do or where to go, but he holds fast to what his grandfather always told him: “No man knows who he is until he knows hispast, the history of his country.”

As Oscar sets out to find his ancestral village of Pata de Puerco and the meaning of the magical pig's-foot amulet he has inherited, the search for his country's hidden history becomes entangled with the search for the truth about himself.

Ambitious in scope, yet intimate in tone, rippling with vitality and driven by passion, full of dark comedy, magical history, and startling revelations, Pig's Foot is a dazzling evocation of Cuba's tumultuous history-a spellbinding and unexpected debut from an author of many talents.

Carlos Acosta, born in Havana, now lives in London. He has been a principal at the American Ballet Theater, the Houston Ballet, the English National Ballet, and the Royal Ballet, and created the semiautobiographical, Olivier-nominated show Tocororo . He has acted in films including New York, I Love You, and is the author of a memoir, No Way Home.

Frank Wynne's translations have won the IMPAC, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and the Scott Moncrieff Prize. He lives in London.