A couple going through a rough patch in their marriage embarks on a road trip with their two young children from New York to Arizona. They are both documentary filmmakers, each focused on their own project: he is on the trail of the last Apache tribe to surrender to the American military, while she is hoping to document the removal of child migrants as they reach the southern border, seeking asylum. As the family car travels through the vast American landscape, the two children, sitting in the back seat, listen to their parents’ conversations and stories, confusing the news about the migrant crisis with the genocide of North America’s indigenous tribes. The stories become intertwined in their imagination, paving the way for an adventure that is the story of a family, a country, and a continent.

Desierto Sonoro [Lost Children Archive], Valeria Luiselli’s third novel, combines the best of two great literary traditions: travel and exodus. The novel shuffles over the pavement and crosses desert horizons, it stops at highway motels and penetrates its character’s most intimate territories, offering a precise series of snapshots that portray the infinite layers in the geographic, auditory, political, and spiritual landscape that makes up contemporary reality. A moving, necessary story that shows the frailty in which family bonds are defined, questions the way we document our existence and pass our stories from one generation to the next, and wonders what it means to be human in a world increasingly devoid of humanity.

(Synopsis for Desierto Sonoro, published by Sexto Piso, 2019)

“A new classic that breaks the mold... In the hands of Luiselli, the novel becomes truly innovative: electric, elastic, suggestive, and original.”

The New York Times

“Elegant and generous, funny and moving... An extraordinary allegory.”

The Atlantic

Read by

Marina de Tavira

Listen to it now on

Available in Mexico, Colombia, and Spain. Available soon in Canada and the USA through Penguin Random House.

Credits

Presented by

La Corriente del Golfo Podcast

DESIERTO SONORO de Valeria Luiselli
Read by Marina de Tavira
Production Company La Corriente del Golfo Podcast
Producers Diego Luna, Ricardo Giraldo, Marina de Tavira
Executive Producers Gael García Bernal y Paula Amor

Directed by Elvira Liceaga y Ricardo Giraldo
Sound Intervention Matías Barberis y Ricardo Giraldo
Production Assistant Fernando Peña
Recording and Editing Engineer Gabriel Villegas
Master Matías Barberis
Final Check Aura García-Junco

Consultant Valeria Luiselli
Recording and Sound Mix in Mexico en Bias Post
Bonus track Wild West Song
Maia Enrigue Luiselli - Voz
Miquel Enrigue Huntington - guitarra
Translation Copyright: Daniel Saldaña Parίs y Valeria Luiselli

Acknowledgements

Valeria Luiselli, a todo el equipo de La Corriente del Golfo, Nicole Aragi, Jóse Hámad, Diego Rabasa y Leonardo Heiblum.