The Lucky Ones

Set in Colombia between 1993 and 2013—the peak years of violence during the long Colombian conflict—this jigsaw puzzle of a novel centres on a group of wealthy girls, the daughters of expats and local elite, and the teachers, housekeepers, warlords, and guerrilla fighters who surround them. 

A teenager hides alone in her family's mansion until she hears a knock at the door. Her teacher is kidnapped by guerrillas and teaches Shakespeare in the jungle to a class of sticks, leaves, and stones. Another classmate, now a young woman in New York, straddles past and present, unable to live in either without the help of the little bags of powder she carries with her.

Showcasing a brilliant new literary voice, THE LUCKY ONES is both steeped in realism and has a hallucinatory feel—whether from the heat of the jungle, the drugs, or the surreal quality of a world in which the super wealthy have pet lions, people you love can disappear in an instant, and at any moment there might be a knock at your door.

“Pachico delivers one of the most original and mesmerizing debuts I've read in years.”

—Marisa Silver, New York Times bestselling author of Little Nothing and Mary Coin