There old comrades-in-arms have been called together at the behest of the anarchist, Pedro Nolasco

a.k.a. The Shadow

to carry out one last revolutionary gesture before time and age get the better of them.

They agree to reunite in a warehouse in Santiago.

It will be their first meeting since going underground after Augusto Pinochet’s 1973 coup.

The men share a past as members of Chile’s Socialist Liberation Army and as militant supporters of President Salvador Allende.

Scarred by an era of oppression and paranoia, they cautiously reconnect.

They settle on a date, a location, a secret password.

But a cruel and darkly comic destiny waylays their illustrious leader, and on the night of the meeting they wait in vain.

The Shadow has disappeared and somebody will have to step up and fill his shoes.

Who better than Coco Aravena?

In revolutionary circles, nobody has ever taken the reckless and bumbling Coco seriously.

But now his moment has come.

By one of Chile’s most famous and beloved authors, The Shadow of What We Were is a humorous and moving examination of what becomes of our glorious pasts in the inglorious present.

‘Melancholic, entertaining and toughing.

A fable and a noir in which wisdom and self-mockery are paramount.’

L'Espresso

‘Lyrical and ironic, the Chilean author expands on his 'revolutionary’ themes.‘

La Stampa

'The Shadow of What We Were is an adventure story abundantly infused with humor and tenderness.’

La Repubblica

‘ Sepulveda takes the misfortunes of a generation that has been humiliated by dictatorship but can still hold its head high and transforms them into literature.’

Ill Secolo XIX
‘Sepulveda is one of Latin America’s most emblematic voices.’

France 24