''Lost City Radio'' is a 2007 novel written by

Daniel Alarcón Daniel Alarcón (born March 5, 1977 in Lima, Peru) is a Peruvian-American novelist, journalist and radio producer. He is co-founder, host and executive producer of '' Radio Ambulante'', an award-winning Spanish language podcast distributed by NP ...

Plot summary

After a ten-year insurrection set in a nameless South American country in which the totalitarian government defeated a rebel group, the government has eliminated all

indigenous language An indigenous language, or autochthonous language, is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples. This language is from a linguistically distinct community that originated in the area. Indigenous languages are not neces ...

s and renamed all places as numbers; radio is the only remaining convenience. The protagonist, Norma, is the voice of a popular radio show that attempts to reconnect war refugees with their families. Yet Norma too has lost during the war: her husband disappeared on a trip to a jungle village called ''1797''. One day a boy arrives from ''1797'' along with a list of missing for Norma to read over the radio, jarring Norma to recall the details of her life with her husband and his possible fate. Though the novel is set in Latin America it does not contain a single word of Spanish. It has been remarked for the ability to describe the people's sense of displacement

Reviews

"Blurring the moral lines: Fictional Latin American country is torn apart by violence"
by John Freeman, ''Houston Chronicle'', April 13, 2007.

Footnotes

2007 American novels Novels set in South America HarperCollins books Hispanic and Latino American novels Novels by Daniel Alarcón 2007 debut novels {{2000s-novel-stub