In the Beginning Was the Sea Paperback by Tomás González

Product Details

• Publisher: Pushkin Press Classics (2026-11-03)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 160 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781805332039
• Item Weight: 147.42 grams
• Dimensions: 19.74 x 12.9 x 1.24 cm

An Independent, Financial Times, and Irish Times Book of the Year!

A couple's search for a rural paradise on the Caribbean coast takes a sinister turn in this darkly ironic modern classic.

When J. and Elena swap the parties and culture of the city for a simpler life on Colombia's remote Caribbean coast, they expect to find an Eden to call their own. Their plan is to lead the good life, self-sufficient and close to nature. But from the very start, each day brings small defeats and imperceptible dramas, which gradually turn paradise into hell…

A satire of hippyism, ecological fantasies, and of the very idea that man can control fate, In the Beginning Was the Sea is a searingly ironic account of man’s confrontation with nature and with himself. In amongst the mango groves, the young couple’s surroundings inexorably claim back every inch of the 'civilisation' they brought with them, leaving them to question how they will survive in this new environment when they themselves remain unchanged. And, as their relationship breaks down—and the horror unfolds—who can they count on if not each other?

Based on a true story, In the Beginning Was the Sea is a menacing, darkly funny tale of human weakness, the terrifying power of nature, and what happens when our dreams meet their fateful reality.

About the Author

Tomás González was born in 1950 in Medellín, Colombia. He studied Philosophy before becoming a barman in a Bogotá nightclub, whose owner published In the Beginning Was the Sea, his first novel, in 1983. González has lived in Miami and New York, where he wrote much of his work while making a living as a translator. After twenty years in the US, he returned to Colombia, where he now lives. His books have been translated into six languages. His novels Fog at Noon, Difficult Light, and The Storm have also been published in English.

Frank Wynne is an award-winning translator from French and Spanish. He has been awarded the IMPAC Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the Scott Moncrieff Prize. He has translated a number of Spanish and Latin American authors, including Tomás Eloy Martínez, Isabel Allende and Arturo Pérez-Reverte.