Chilco

“The landscape you are will always be the landscape you carry.”
Chilco is a novel of love, rebellion, and friendship.

A couple survives in the heart of the Capital, a city that never feels like home. Marina, the narrator, is the granddaughter of a Peruvian migrant and works in the archives of the Museum of Natural and Social History. Pascale, her partner, comes from a Lafkenche family on the island of Chilco in the country’s south and makes a living as a carpenter. Their best friend, Leila, left Haiti in search of a better future in a nation hurtling steadily toward collapse. The fall of a building on Gran Avenida, unexplained sinkholes, and a rising social movement bent on tearing everything down signal a seemingly irreversible decline—just as the three friends begin to organize and fight for a more dignified existence.

It is then that Marina and Pascale decide to migrate to Chilco, drawn by the promise of a fuller life—far from the exploitation and colonial violence of the Capital. Chilco becomes a symbol of possibility: a space where the diverse cultures of this continent might finally be able to speak freely.

Daniela Catrileo—acclaimed author and philosopher whose previous works include Río herido, Guerra florida, and Piñén—delivers a painful and beautiful novel, written in a baroque style as rare as it is vital in contemporary Chile. A rich tapestry of cultures, colors, and voices that masterfully captures the complexities of our current moment.