The discovery of a multinational company selling an unapproved corn seed has endangered him, and a chance reunion inadvertently embroiled Hector. Told through a cache of text messages and “soundfiles” recorded by Hector María de la Soledad Lázaro Gonzalez, a 22-year-old Oaxaqueño, the novel opens with nightmarish circumstances: Hector and his “old school friend” Cesar Ramírez Santiago are sealed and abandoned in the hollow tank of a broken water truck with thirteen other migrants who have been trafficked across the Mexico-United States border.Ĭesar, unconscious due to injury he’s suffered on the journey, is fleeing north fearing for his life. Built around a dying man’s plea echoing the plight of Mexico’s indigenous communities, the novel unfurls at the pace of a geopolitical thriller, with the gravitas of allegory. “This” is fiction, and The Jaguar’s Children confirms Vaillant, 52, is equally skilled in the telling of stories both true and imagined. That to me is what’s exciting about writing and this is different.” To me what’s amazing is when a real person actually said that, a real set of circumstances actually unfolded that way, and it’s stranger than fiction. “That just came in a bolt from the blue,” Vaillant says, “It was odd enough, because I don’t usually hear voices, and I’m really interested in real stuff. “To me what’s amazing is when a real person actually said that, a real set of circumstances actually unfolded that way, and it’s stranger than fiction.

These eleven words would guide a manuscript through multiple revisions and into a vibrant portrait of a life and nation. One day, however, in January of 2010, Vaillant was at his computer when a voice suddenly coalesced: “Hello I’m sorry to bother you but I need your assistance”. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.

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