Sacrificio Book

RELEASE DATE - 15 AUGUST 2023

Cuba, 1998: Rafa, an Afro-Cuban orphan, moves to Havana with nothing to his name and falls into a job at a cafe. He is soon drawn into a web of ever-shifting entanglements with his boss's son, the charismatic Renato, leader of the counterrevolutionary group 'Los Injected Ones,' which is planning a violent overthrow of the Castro government during Pope John Paul II's upcoming visit.

When Renato goes missing, Rafa's search for his friend takes him through various haunts in Havana: from an AIDS sanatorium, to the guest rooms of tourist hotels, to the outskirts of the capital, where he enters a phantasmagorical slum cobbled together from the city's detritus by Los Injected Ones.

A novel of cascading prose that captures a nation in slow collapse, Sacrificio is a visionary work, capturing the fury, passion, fatalism, and grim humour of young lives lived at the margins of a society they desperately wish to change.

"A darkly funny fever dream that's somewhere between historical fiction, a spy novel, and a bildungsroman . . . Sacrificio explores young queer life under Castro's rule, blending striking historical details with mesmerising visions of how a rebellion led by those on the fringes might look."
--Them

"Flourishing in its suspense and realism, the novel tells a story of recovery and resistance; Rafa puts his grief to work as he grapples with the political deeds of the deceased and the death-dealing of the state that looms over them all."
--Vulture

"A sprawling historical novel that manages to be intimate in its humanity, Sacrificio drew me in and held me in its grip until the very last page . . . Funny and daring, with a plot that will keep readers guessing until the very end, this is the perfect read for anyone looking for fiction that is epic and socially conscious. Its length may seem daunting at first, but trust me, you won't be able to put it down."
--Buzzfeed