Pig's Foot: A Novel

Carlos Acosta

Jan. 2014 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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The Korticos are from a well-endowed pygmy tribe in West Africa; the Mandingas are descended from a tribe of tall Ghanaians. Both families have been brought to Cuba as slaves. Oscar Kortico and Jose Mandinga, inseparable friends, marry a pair of sisters, and in the tiny hamlet of Pig's Foot (Pata de Puerco), five generations of these families will live out their colorful lives through the tumultuous sweep of Cuban history: from slavery through the war of independence, exploitation, dictatorship, and compromised freedom, to the present day when teenager Oscar Mandinga goes seeking the fabled village of his ancestors.

Carlos Acosta's first novel is a swiftly plotted island folktale with warmth, humor, magic, and a light allegorical touch. It's a history grounded in sights and smells and human foibles. And it's an enchanting and unexpected debut from an author of many talents.

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Carlos Acosta was born in Havana in 1973 and trained at the National Ballet School of Cuba. He has been a principal at the English National Ballet, the Houston Ballet, the American Ballet Theater, and the Royal Ballet, where he is currently a Principal Guest Artist, and has danced as a guest artist all over the world, winning numerous international awards. He wrote and choreographed a semi-autobiographical show, Tocororo, in Havana in 2002/3. After its premiere in Cuba, it broke box office records in London and was nominated for an Olivier award in 2004. Acosta has also appeared as an actor in the film New York, I Love You (in the segment directed by Natalie Portman) and in The Day of Flowers, recently premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. He is the author of the autobiography No Way Home. Pig's Foot is his first work of fiction. Acosta lives in London.

Translator Frank Wynne has won three major prizes for his translations: the 2002 IMPAC for Atomised by Michel Houellebecq, the 2005 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for Windows on the World by Frédéric Beigbeder, and the 2008 Scott Moncrieff Prize for Holiday in a Coma by the same author. He lives in London.