Better Than Cocaine: Learning to grow coffee, and live, in Colombia - Couverture souple

Wills, Barry Max

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 6280115801 ISBN 13 : 9786280115801

Editeur : Fuller Vigil, 2024

Synopsis

"Better Than Cocaine is also the story of modern Colombia, which Wills has chronicled during an historic transition from a generation of civil conflict to the more hopeful, if messy, peace that prevails today. This has allowed its society to begin flourishing in ways that Wills has captured with the skill of an ethnographer. One of his most laudable missions has been to puncture the negative stereotypes that persist in painting false images of a country racked by violent conflict, drug-trafficking and corruption."

Gavin O'Toole, the Latin American Review of Books.

“You’ve bought what?’
‘A plantation in Colombia.’
‘Whatever for, darling? You’re not going to go off and live there, are you?’
‘No. Well, not now, anyway.’
‘And what are you going to grow? Cocaine?”

Barry Max Wills is not a fish-out-of-water but instead revels in the challenges of his new home and role on an ever-expanding coffee plantation. More than this, he becomes a fixture in the local town of Anserma, dispelling myths of cocaine and bandits in a country all too often flagged for violence.

In Colombia, Barry learns that things are seldom just black or white and one can never take anything for granted, except for the unexpected.

Think of the writing of Peter Mayle, but in Colombia, with the conversational style of Alexander McCall-Smith, exploring and interpreting the curiosities and unknowns of Colombia.

Many people dream of moving overseas and some do, but how many can tell tales of run-ins with leftist guerrillas, small town licentiousness and the volatility of coffee prices, all in the “land of open doors?”

What people say about the book:

“A charming book that perches you on the verandah of a working Colombian coffee finca and whisks you through the idiosyncrasies of life in small town Colombia with a dry sense of humour that delivers morsels of history, travel, culture, and export grade coffee.”
Lachlan Page, author of Magical Disinformation

"The ebbs and flows of life on a farm are never easy. But when Barry Max Wills and his partner, Adriano, buy a farm deep in Colombia’s coffee region, from their cosy flat in Europe ‘ sight unseen’, the odds seem stacked against them. After all, how much could a writer and an artist know about growing coffee?

Navigating the trials and triumphs that define the life of a Colombian coffee farmer, the pair encounter the unique blend of magic and realism that is so emblematic of Colombia at every turn. Things never quite turn out as they expect, some things are utterly enchanting, others completely confounding. But, ultimately, the life they build is better than any the author, as a young man in his native Australia, could ever have imagined. And that is the beauty of this book, its author invites you to their home in the breathtaking Colombian coffee region to share with him in the adventure and the love of a lifetime.

This book will awaken your senses, fill your cup, and leave you yearning for a taste of Colombia."
Caroline Doherty de Novoa - author of Dancing with Statues and The Belfast Girl, and editor of Was Gabo an Irishman?

"Smart, funny, and unnerving, I won’t be the only reader who sacrifices a night’s sleep to this book. ‘Better Than Cocaine’ is brewed with an old-fashioned thirst for adventure and turns into the addictive tale of two men who venture into the heart of Colombia’s modern-day renaissance and find themselves quietly transformed."
Victoria Kellaway, author of Colombia, A Comedy of Errors.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Fuller Vigil
• Date d'édition: 2024
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 6280115801
• ISBN 13: 9786280115801
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 349
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Manufactured by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.fr/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxembourg